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India Today
24-07-2025
- Business
- India Today
Does your degree guarantee a job? The employability crisis in India
When 23-year-old Arjun Mehta walked across the stage at his engineering college's convocation in Pune last year, degree in hand and dreams in his eyes, he assumed the hard part was over. Four years of relentless study, tuition loans, and late-night coding marathons led to this moment. But a year later, Arjun finds himself back in his hometown of Varanasi jobless, disillusioned, and preparing for yet another competitive is not year, over 3 million graduates enter India's job market. Yet only about half of them are deemed employable. That means thousands like Arjun armed with degrees but lacking the skills the market needs are stuck in limbo, watching job offers slip through their fingers. This growing employability gap is one of India's most pressing yet under-discussed crises.A COUNTRY OF DEGREES, NOT JOBSAccording to the India Skills Report 2025, only 54.8% of Indian graduates are considered employable, and other estimates place this figure even lower. The Graduate Skill Index 2025 from Mercer|Mettl puts employability at 42.6%, marking a drop from previous worse, youth unemployment remains staggeringly high. Recent data from CMIE shows that 44.5% of Indians aged 20–24 are unemployed, despite many of them holding graduate or even postgraduate isn't just a statistic. It's a reality that affects millions of middle-class families, pushing students into endless cycles of entrance exams, low-paying internships, and VS SUPPLY: A BROKEN EQUATIONThe problem isn't just the number of jobs it's the kind of jobs available and the skills sectors like Artificial Intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, and cybersecurity are desperate for skilled workers. These fields report employability rates upwards of 46%, often with 4–5X salary non-technical roles in sales, HR, and finance hover around 45% employability, and traditional degrees in humanities or general science often struggle to fetch even that. Recruiters echo the same complaint: 'Graduates have the degree, but not the skills.' THE COLLEGE CONUNDRUMNot all colleges are created equal. Graduates from Tier-1 institutes (like IITs, BITS, and top private universities) have an average employability of 48.4%. In contrast, Tier-3 or rural college graduates hover around 43%, with limited access to digital tools, industry exposure, or within engineering a field that churns out 1.5 million graduates annually only 35% are considered employable in core engineering to this a weak curriculum-industry alignment, outdated syllabi, and negligible internship exposure, and the result is a talent pool that's drowning in certificates but starved of SOFT SKILL DEFICITEmployers don't just want hard skills—they want professionals who can think critically, communicate effectively, and adapt quickly. But in the Mercer|Mettl report, only 50% of graduates were employable in communication-based roles. Creative thinking was even lower, at 44.3%.India's education system, long focused on rote learning and exam scores, often sidelines these essential traits.A GENDER AND GEOGRAPHY GAPThe gap isn't just educational it's also geographic and gender-basedDelhi leads the employability index at 53.4%, while states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam fall behindMale graduates slightly outperform females 43.4% vs 41.7% in perceived employabilityRural youth face both digital and social disadvantages, including language barriers and fewer industry connectionsCAN THIS BE FIXED?India is National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 promises sweeping reforms, from vocational training in schools to internships as part of college degrees. Initiatives like PMKVY and Skill India aim to retrain and upskill millions. But implementation remains companies are stepping in too. Firms like TCS, Infosys, and Google have launched training programs to bridge the gap but these cater mostly to top-tier colleges or tech-focused WITH DIRECTIONThe solution isn't to produce fewer graduates—but to produce better-prepared needs:Curriculum reform that matches market demandsMandatory internships and skill-based certificationsSoft skill development from the school levelPartnerships between academia and industryBecause in today's job market, a degree is not a ticket—it's just the starting the young engineer from Pune, is now taking an online course in AI fundamentals. He's hopeful. But like many others, he wishes someone had told him sooner: In India today, a degree may get you to the door—but skills are what unlock it.- Ends
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Business Standard
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Stock Market LIVE: GIFT Nifty flat; Asia mixed; HCLTech Q1, June CPI eyed
Sensex Today | Stock Market LIVE on Monday, July 14, 2025: Around 6:31 AM, GIFT Nifty futures were trading 18 points lower at 25,205, indicating a flat to negative start for the bourses. 7:04 AM Stock Market LIVE Updates: Manufacturing dominated new projects in Q1, share at 10-quarter high Stock Market LIVE Updates: More than half of all new project announcements in the June 2025 quarter came from the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing projects worth around ₹2.3 trillion were announced in the three-month period, accounting for 54 per cent of total new projects, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). This is the highest share in 10 quarters. Such a high share has occurred less than six times since 2010. The government has been driving much of the capital expenditure (capex) in recent years through its announced investments in roads, railways, and other infrastructure projects. The value and share of manufacturing projects assumes significance because of the sector's potential for job creation and what it might mean for private capex, seen to be a major driver of economic growth. 7:03 AM Stock Market LIVE Updates: Singapore's economy grew at 4.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the second quarter of 2025, accelerating from 4.1 per cent in the first three months and beating expectations. Reuters poll of economists had forecast a 3.5 per cent growth. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Singapore's GDP grew by 1.4 per cent, a turnaround from the 0.5 per cent contraction last quarter. The GDP growth was led by the manufacturing sector, which expanded 5.5 per cent Y-o-Y, up from 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2025. The sector makes up about 17 per cent of the country's economy. Despite the GDP beat, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said in its release that 'there remains significant uncertainty and downside risks in the global economy in the second half of 2025 given the lack of clarity over the tariff policies of the US.' Source: CNBC 7:00 AM Stock Market LIVE Updates: Wall Street, Asian stocks slip as Trump's tariff threats rattle investors Stock Market LIVE Updates: Losses in Wall Street futures dragged Asian stocks lower on Monday as the latest round of threats in the US tariff wars kept investors on edge, though the fallout was limited by hopes this was mainly bluster by President Donald Trump. Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 30 per cent tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico from August 1, even as they are locked in long negotiations. The European Union said it would extend a suspension of countermeasures to US tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement, though Germany's finance minister called for firm action if the levies went ahead. Investors have become largely inured to Trump's chaotic policy methods and stocks eased only modestly, while the dollar gained just a fraction on the euro.
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Business Standard
04-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Win some, lose some: the surprising post-pandemic changes in wage growth
The more educated have had slower growth but they are the highest paid in the country Sachin P Mampatta Mumbai Listen to This Article Wages in India are slowly picking up from their pandemic dip but remain in single-digit territory. Wages have grown at 8.7 per cent on an annualised basis since 2018-19, shows data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) based on its Consumer Pyramids Household Survey. This is lower than the 12 per cent growth in 2018-19 and 31 per cent growth seen in 2017-18, though recovery from demonetisation and associated disruptions may have played a role in the latter figure. The latest growth figure is despite a nearly 19 per cent year-on-year growth in 2024-25, the fastest in seven
Mint
02-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
June turns quieter as animal spirits fade
Indian companies began 2025-26 on a subdued note, with investment appetite for new projects sinking to one of the lowest in nearly five years. While the June quarter is often a quieter period, new government capital expenditure (capex) announcements were the lowest this year in at least a decade. According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy's (CMIE) project-tracking database, new projects worth ₹4.1 trillion were announced across the country during the first quarter of the current fiscal. This marks one of the lowest investment proposals since the first three quarters of 2020-21 (amid pandemic lockdowns) and the first quarter of 2024-25 (during general elections). Also Read: GVA data haze: Has India been overcounting the output of its informal sector? 'There is usually a seasonal dip observed in project announcements in the June quarter after the ramp-up in March. But this year the decline was unusually sharp," said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at Icra Ltd. A sharp decline in government projects, accounting for only 13% of overall new investments, primarily drove the slowdown in the recently concluded June quarter. Government investments totalled a mere ₹0.5 trillion, marking the lowest for a June quarter in at least a decade. This figure was even lower than public sector projects announced during April-June 2020, when the country had undergone an unprecedented lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Icra's Nayar, the notable decline in Q1FY26's new projects should be read carefully, as it follows the unusual spike in Q4FY25 of worth ₹6.8 trillion, which was more than double the year-ago levels and also exceeded the amounts seen in the rest of 2024-25 together. Also Read: Public capex is doing the heavy lifting, and the figures aim at a decade's high 'The chunking up of such announcements in Q4FY25 is likely to have led to the lull in Q1FY26," she added. Private sector investments, at ₹3.5 trillion, though accounting for the bulk of new project announcements in Q1FY26, still hit a four-quarter low. Among the 10 largest new project announcements in the June quarter—which collectively represented approximately 67% of total investments—only one was government-funded: the Chandrapura Ultra Supercritical Power Plant Expansion Project worth ₹0.2 trillion in Giridih, Jharkhand. Vedanta's Dhenkalan Aluminium Smelter Project led new investments in Q1FY26 at ₹1.3 trillion, followed by InterGlobe's purchase of 30 more Airbus A350-900 aircraft valued at ₹0.4 trillion. Sector-wise analysis reveals that manufacturing primarily dominated new investments in the quarter, accounting for more than half of all announcements, yet investments in this segment remained at a near two-year low. Also Read: Sixteenth Finance Commission likely to keep states' tax share unchanged amid Centre's defence, capex needs Despite the subdued pace of new investment announcements in Q1FY26, project completions showed relative strength, with projects worth ₹2 trillion completed during the quarter, marginally lower than projects worth ₹2.4 trillion completed in the previous quarter.
Economic Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Odisha leads in Q1 private capex
New private sector project announcements in India hit a four-quarter low in the three months ending June, as per CMIE data. Despite this dip in project numbers, total investments more than doubled year-on-year, reaching ₹3.5 lakh crore, with Odisha leading the way. Experts attribute the moderation to tariff uncertainties and subdued domestic demand, impacting capacity expansion plans. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads New Delhi: New project announcements by private sector companies fell to a four-quarter low in the three months ended June, showed data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Total investments in these projects at ₹3.5 lakh crore, however, more than doubled from Rs 1.4 lakh crore a year earlier, the data states dominated the investments, accounting for 85.7% of the newly-announced projects. Odisha led at Rs 1.4 lakh crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh (₹47,110.7 crore) and Haryana (₹45,934 crore).Experts attributed moderation in investments to prevailing uncertainty around tariffs, and muted domestic demand, both weighing on capacity expansion plans."The unprecedented economic uncertainty due to tariffs and geopolitical reasons appear to have been behind the decline in new project announcements," said Paras Jasrai, associate director at India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra).India and the US are negotiating a trade agreement, which is expected to be finalised before July Gupta, principal economist at HDFC Bank , noted that a broader and sustainable recovery in domestic consumer demand is essential for driving private capex. "Clarity on external demand is also crucial for sectors with significant export exposure."The drop in new project announcements aligns with a government survey on private sector capex investment intentions released in fiscal year, private capex is expected to reach ₹4.9 lakh crore, declining from ₹6.6 lakh crore in FY25, according to the survey released by the statistics ministry."Private capex is expected to remain subdued going by the survey, though a pick up could occur in the second half of this fiscal year, as domestic demand strengthens from August with the start of the festive season," said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda Government capex rose 54% to ₹2.2 lakh crore in April-May, official data released Monday 324, new private projects announced in the first quarter of FY26 were the lowest since Q1FY23, according to an ET analysis. CMIE tracks projects with capex of Rs 1 crore or sectors, metals and metal products saw the highest value of new project announcements at ₹1.4 lakh crore, followed by electricity (₹63,207.3 crore) and transport services (₹44,893.5 crore).
