By INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 1

2 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 REACHING OVER
3,00,000
STUDENTS ACROSS
28 STATES,
9 UNION
TERRITORIES
AND OVER 150
EMPLOYERS.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 3

ABOUT THE TEAM

Taggd (by PeopleStrong) Wheebox

Taggd, a PeopleStrong recruitment solutions brand, Wheebox is India’s leading online talent assessment
is the largest Recruitment Process Outsourcing company that partners with corporations for finding
(RPO) provider from India with 100+ clients across and retaining the best talent using validated, reliable
14+ sectors and managing permanent recruitment and standardized tests for pre-hiring and learning
for over half a million jobs. It combines the power of needs. Wheebox benchmarks over 3 million users
data and human knowledge to bring advanced talent annually across the globe. In line with its vision to
acquisition and digital hiring solutions that change how “Measure the World’s Talent”, Wheebox partners with
businesses work and deliver. Over the last 13 years, many Fortune 500 corporations and hundreds of
Taggd has developed a deep industry understanding, large and medium enterprises to power their hiring
digital recruitment expertise, talent network access, and competency development assessment needs.
data intelligence and access to a robust tech stack to Wheebox also partners with thousands of higher and
deliver business gains. Some of the leading enterprise vocational educational institutions for conducting its
customers of Taggd include Pfizer, Wipro, Honeywell, proprietary “Wheebox National Employability Test
Mahindra, BirlaSoft, Tata Motors, Renault Nissan, Aditya (WNET)” for final year graduates and postgraduates
Birla Health Insurance, Citi, IndiaMART, Swiggy, Oyo to benchmark competencies that matter the most
and Quikr, amongst other national and multinational for being employable in corporations. Wheebox also
brands. Nelson Hall, one of the leading global analyst powers the “India Skills Report” on the skill supply
firms, has rated Taggd amongst leaders in the RPO side and complements thousands of colleges across all
NEAT Matrix. Taggd is the knowledge partner for the Indian states and UTs to identify, benchmark and spot
India Skills Report and conducts the “India Hiring Intent areas of competencies. It supplements institution wide
Survey (IHIS)” and the “Decoding Jobs : The Think Tank candidate reports for developing competencies for
Series” across all major metros to take quantitative and employment by partnering with Confederation of Indian
qualitative insights from the academia and industry Industry, PeopleStrong, LinkedIn, Association of Indian
thought leaders on their views on the talent demand
side.

4 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Universities, United Nations Development Program and rechristened as Association of Indian Universities in
All India Council for Technical Education. Wheebox also 1973. As a representative body of Universities of India, it
partners with many Indian states to design and deploy liaises with the universities and the government (central
State Skills Reports and with the Ministry of Labour and as well as state) and coordinates among the universities
Employment with its proprietary BARO Career Interest and other apex higher education organizations of the
Report by helping candidates make right career choices world. The main objective of the AIU is to protect and
on the ‘National Career Service’ and across ‘Model promote the interest of universities and facilitate their
Career Centers’ in India. activities especially by way of sharing information and
increasing cooperation in the field of culture, sports, and
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) allied areas, and help universities in mutual recognition
of degrees. Being a communion of highest academics
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to of the country i.e. the Vice Chancellors, it inevitably
create and sustain an environment conducive to the
development of India, partnering industry, Government, assumes the role of a Think Tank and Academic Leader
and civil society, through advisory and consultative in the country. At present out of 831 universities in the
processes. CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, country, 635 are the members of the association. Apart
industry-led and industry-managed organization, from Indian Universities, there are more than 10 foreign
playing a proactive role in India’s development process. universities who are associate members of the AIU.
Founded in 1895, India’s premier business association
has more than 9100 members, from the private as well United Nations Development Programme
as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an (UNDP)
indirect membership of over 300,000 enterprises from
291 national and regional sectoral industry bodies. UNDP works in more than 170 countries and territories,
helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the
CII charts change by working closely with Government reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We help countries
on policy issues, interfacing with thought leaders, and to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities,
enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and business institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to
opportunities for industry through a range of specialized sustain development results. UNDP has worked in India
services and strategic global linkages. It also provides since 1951 in almost all areas of human development,
a platform for consensus-building and networking on from democratic governance to poverty eradication, to
key issues. Extending its agenda beyond business, sustainable energy and environmental management.
CII assists industry to identify and execute corporate UNDP’s programmes are aligned with national priorities
citizenship programmes. Partnerships with civil society and are reviewed and adjusted annually.
organizations carry forward corporate initiatives for
integrated and inclusive development across diverse All India Council for Technical Education
domains including affirmative action, healthcare, (AICTE)
education, livelihood, diversity management, skill
development, empowerment of women, and water, to The AICTE was set up in November 1945 based on the
name a few. recommendations of CABE to stimulate, coordinate
and control the provisions of educational facilities
India is now set to become a US$ 5 trillion economy in and industrial development of the post war period.
the next five years and Indian industry will remain the At that time, the mandate of AICTE basically covered
principal growth engine for achieving this target. With only programs in Engineering and Technology.
the theme for 2019-20 as ‘Competitiveness of India Inc The growth of Technical Education in the country
- India@75: Forging Ahead’, CII will focus on five priority before independence was very slow. The number of
areas which would enable the country to stay on a solid Engineering Colleges and Polytechnics (including
growth track. These are - employment generation, Pharmacy and Architecture Institutions) in 1947 was
rural-urban connect, energy security, environmental 44 and 43 with an intake capacity of 3200 and 3400
sustainability and governance. With 68 offices, including respectively. Due to efforts and initiatives taken during
9 Centres of Excellence, in India, and 11 overseas offices successive Five Year Plans and particularly due to
in Australia, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, policy changes in the eighties to allow participation
Singapore, South Africa, UAE, UK, and USA, as well of Private and Voluntary Organizations in the setting
as institutional partnerships with 394 counterpart up of Technical Institutions on self-financing basis, the
organizations in 133 countries, CII serves as a reference growth of Technical Education has been phenomenal.
point for Indian industry and the international business The total number of Engineering (UG) and Diploma
community. institutes approved by the Council till the AY 2016-17
are 3285 and 3925 respectively with approved intake of
Association of Indian Universities (AIU) 1553360 and 1244778.

Association of Indian Universities (AIU) is one of the

premier institutions of the country working for the
cause of higher education. Established in 1925 as
Inter University Board of India and Ceylone, it was

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report is a combination of an assessment of 300,000 Candidates from

3500 Educational Institutes across 28 States and 9 Union Territories of
India who appeared for the WNET and 150+ Corporates across 9 Industry
Sectors who participated in India Hiring Intent survey.

The Seventh edition of India Skills Report (2020), and heartfelt thanks to the Heads of all participating
India’s only and most referred report on the nation’s Educational Institutes, who helped us in ensuring our
talent landscape, is here and we would like to recognize reach to the talent pool of India. This initiative would not
and express our gratitude to everyone involved in this have been possible without their guidance and support.
shared effort and initiative.
Last but not the least, we would like to thank all the
We express our sincere gratitude to the experts from members of the CII National Committee on Skills
business, government and academia who took out time Development and Livelihood, and CII office bearers
and shared their views on the talent landscape of India across states, who have lent invaluable support in
and contributed in creating this report. This report is a partnering the WNET and the Corporate Job Survey.
combination of an assessment of 300,000 candidates Their support helped us in making students and
from 3500 educational institutes across 28 States and 9 corporates across the nation to participate in this
Union Territories of India who appeared for the WNET initiative in large numbers.
and the India Hiring Intent survey where 150+ corporates
spread across 9 Industry sectors participated and Thanks for being part of this national cause which sets
shared there hiring forecast for the year. We would the nation’s direction on skills, talent and jobs. We hope
like to thank each one of these institutions as well as you will enjoy this edition of the report and we look
industry players for their participation. A very special forward to your continued support in the future.

6 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

FOREWORD

Anil D Sahastrabudhe
Chairman
AICTE

This edition of the “India Skills Report 2020” provides of students (over 300,000) is measured to understand
insights into the changing job landscape of the country their readiness for the available jobs and on the other
and offers to students, corporations, academia and hand, the demand preferences of the employers (over
policymakers, a consolidated view of the impact of 150) are highlighted. The amalgamation of the two
various forces like demographics, globalisation, political perspectives gives a complete picture and emphasizes
environment and Industry 4.0 on the workforce of the most prominent gaps in the ecosystem and indicates
tomorrow. The changing technological landscape the possible way forward. We hope the report gives
coupled with conducive government initiatives is valuable information and actionable insights for taking
facilitating the growth of the economy. Concurrently, the skilling ecosystem to newer heights and helps
the workforce landscape is also changing as per the parents, students, corporations, academia, training
evolving industry requirements. The seventh issue of agencies and policymakers to take effective steps in
the report provides insights into the present state and skilling India.
future expectations of the supply and demand side of
the talent value chain. On one hand, the employability

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 7

PREFACE

Devashish Sharma
Chief Business Officer,
Taggd
Founding Member & Nirmal Singh
Group Chief People Founder and CEO,
Officer - PeopleStrong Wheebox

The Hon’ble Home Minister, Mr. Amit Shah recently A truck transporter for newly manufactured vehicles of
quoted that our economy has undergone a period of a major automotive player used to take 10 days to travel
detox in the past few years and will now see a period between the plant in Hadol, Gujarat and Coimbatore,
of surging growth. We couldn’t agree more with the Tamil Nadu. Due to significantly lesser number of tolls
minister and we will supplement our agreement with and a better infrastructure due to GST, the truck now
the minister’s thoughts citing an example. The launch of takes just 3 days for plying the same route. This has
the GST across the nation has not only made the system added significantly to the overall operational efficiency
more transparent and corruption free, it has significantly of the truck owner and lesser costs for the automotive
added to the bottom line of businesses, large or small. company. While this would mean lesser jobs for the

8 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

time being, the situation is like a hockey stick. It will On the demand side, we reached out to over 300
certainly look up very soon. employers across all major industries, including
industry thought leaders and gurus from the academia,
With all such changes happening, talent will need to requesting them to take the India Hiring Intent Survey
reinvent itself with a lot of agility to stay relevant with (IHIS) with the purpose of quantitatively measuring
the changed landscape of job opportunities. Keeping the hiring intent for 2020. The survey captures key
in mind the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. manpower planning metrics for all these organizations
Narendra Modi and the national call by the Hon’ble – large, medium and small, and was taken up by over
Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, asking the 150 employers.
nation to strive towards achieving a $5 Trillion economy
goal by 2025, Taggd, in partnership with CII and While we were able to capture some interesting trends
Wheebox, set out to measure the sentiment of Students, on the nation’s talent supply and demand by slicing,
the Academia and Industry with respect to India’s talent dicing and inferring from the aggregated data from the
landscape and the gap in supply and demand. WNET and the IHIS, we went a few steps further with the
purpose of getting the outcome qualitatively validated
On the supply side, we reached out to over 3,00,000 by thought leaders from the academia and industry
students across 28 States and 9 Union Territories who and also to get some on the ground solutions to the
took the Wheebox National Employability Test (WNET). current national challenges on the talent supply and
This test measures a student’s employability across demand gap. We did this by conducting the “Decoding
capabilities like cognitive ability along with English, Jobs Think Tank Series” round tables across all major
behavioral traits and pertinent domain knowledge. metropolitan cities, seeking their views on the situation
Some of the key dimensions assessed are business and outcomes, as well as seeking their thoughts and
communication, critical thinking, numeral reasoning suggestions on possible solutions.
and learning agility.
This year’s report not only presents the aggregated
outcome from the aforesaid initiatives, it comes with
two more additions that we are quite hopeful will
enhance its overall credibility: (1) Qualitative thoughts
and solutions from the academia and industry and
(2) Sectoral Dossiers focusing specifically on 6 major
industry sectors.

The overall quantitative and qualitative sentiment

measured for the hiring intent for 2020 is largely
positive, in fact very optimistic across a few industries.
We are hoping that the India Skills Report 2020 will
be well received by institutions and industry and the
suggestions and ideas that have been aggregated
will get converted to impactful action and add to the
nation’s confidence of achieving our shared dream of a
$5T economy in the next few years.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 9

10 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020
12 7 Years Of The India Skills Report
17 Summary Of Key Findings
21 Re-Imagining India’s Talent Landscape For A $5 Trillion
Economy
27 The National Employability Test Analysis - The Supply Story
41 Academia Speaks

43 Power Sector Skill Council (New Delhi)

49 India Hiring Intent 2020 - The Demand Story

57 Decoding Jobs 2019 - The Think Tank Series
64 Industry Leaders Speak

75 Resetting The Demand-Supply Equilibrium - The Way Forward

80 Reimagine Accounting And Finance (CIMA)
82 Bal Bharati’s Maghanmal Pancholia College Of Commerce
84 Appendix
86 Bibliography

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 11

12 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020
 How has Employability changed over the years?

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

33.95% 37.22% 38.12% 40.44% 45.60% 47.38% 46.21%

Which domains have more employable talent?

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

B.E/B.Tech
51.74% 54.00% 52.58% 50.69% 51.52% 57.09% 49%

MBA
41.02% 43.99% 44.56% 42.28% 39.4% 36.44% 54%

B.Arts
19.10% 29.82% 27.11% 35.66% 37.39% 29.3% 48%

B.Com
26.99% 26.45% 20.58% 37.98% 33.93% 30.06% 47%

B.Sc
41.92% 38.41% 35.24% 31.76% 33.62% 47.37% 34%

MCA
43.62% 45.00% 39.81% 31.36% 43.85% 43.19% 25%

ITI
46.92% 44.00% 40.90% 42.22% 29.46% NA NA

Polytechnic
11.53% 10.14% 15.89% 25.77% 32.67% 18.05% 32%

B.Pharma
54.65% 56.00% 40.62% 42.30% 47.78% 36.29% 45%

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 13

 How has the hiring intent changed every year?

2015

23%

2019
2016
15%
14%
2018 2020

2017
10% 10%

7%
2014

2%

HIRING INTENT PERCENTAGE

2020
2014
Banking &
Financial
Services & BFSI,
Insurance (BFSI) TOP SECTORS Pharma &
BPO, KPO & ITeS Healthcare,
Internet Telecom
business

2019
2015

Hospitality
BFSI Which sectors (including Aviation,
Tour Travels)
Software/Hardware
Manufacturing
have hired BFSI, Core Sector
(Oil, Gas,
the most? Steel etc.)

2018 2016

Retail
E-commerce &
BFSI 2017 Transport
Retail Pharma &
Healthcare
Core Sector
(Oil & Gas,
Steel Minerals)
Software/Hardware
Auto Ancilliar

14 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 Which domain has hired the most number of candidates?

DOMAIN WISE PERCENTAGE 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Undergraduate or EquivalentDATA 01
6% 6% 8% 6% 14% 12% 8%

ITI DATA 02
6% 7% 14% 13% 7% 12% 3%

Polytechnic DATA 03
8% 4% 7% 11% 4% 7% 3%

PG 0r Equivalent
DATA 04
(MCAC/MA/M.com/CA/M.Tech)
6% 8% 8% 6% 10% 11% 13%

Management or Equivalent -
MBA, PGDM
22% 22% 16% 16% 19% 13% 17%

Graduates - BCA/BBA/B.Com/BSc.etc
24% 23% 23% 23% 24% 22% 26%

Engineers (BE/B.Tech)
28% 29% 25% 25% 22% 23% 31%

Which states have

the maximum hiring
activity?

Gujarat had the

3rd highest hiring
activity in 2018
Delhi had the 2nd
highest hiring
activity in 2016 &
2018, and the 3rd
Maharashtra had the highest in 2014,
highest hiring 2015 & 2019
activity in 2016, 2017
& 2019 and 2nd
highest in 2015. It will
likely have 3rd highest Andhra Pradesh had
in 2020 the highest hiring
activity in 2018

Karnataka had the

max. hiring activity
in 2014 & 2015,
Tamil Nadu will have
3rd highest in
2017 & 2019. And the highest hiring
will stay at rank 2nd in 2020. It had the
in 2020 2nd highest hiring in
2014 and 3rd highest
in 2016 & 2017

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 15

 Which are the states
with maximum supply TOP 3 STATES
of employable talent?
Punjab 2014
Haryana
Delhi

2015 Delhi
Orrisa
Uttar Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh 2016

Uttar Pradesh
Delhi

2017 Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh
West Bengal

Andhra Pradesh 2018

Delhi
Gujarat

2019 Andhra Pradesh

Delhi
Uttar Pradesh

Maharashtra 2020
Tamil Nadu
Uttar Pradesh

Men v/s Women

PARTICIPATION
AT WORK 71% 70% 68% 71% 77% 75% 71%

EMPLOYABILITY 30.30% 34.26% 36.01% 40.12% 46.87% 47.39% 46%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

PARTICIPATION
AT WORK 29% 30% 32% 29% 23% 25% 29%

EMPLOYABILITY 42.10% 37.88% 39.95% 40.88% 38.15% 45.6% 47%

16 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 17
India is aiming to become a $5T economy with a strong compares them to understand the prevalent gaps and
advantage of being at the cusp of a digital leap. The discusses and puts forth possible solutions that could
digital tailwinds are making the industries adopt digital very well play a pivotal role in India becoming a $5T
solutions across the value chain and create more economy over the next few years.
value for customers and stakeholders. This adoption
of emerging tech is rapidly changing the face of how
a business is conducted, substantially impacting its
operations. But tech alone cannot push India to the ISR 2020 brings together
$5T goal. India’s talent goes hand in hand and her
workforce landscape is also quickly transforming. While
many new jobs are being created, old jobs are being
the readiness of our present
eliminated or replaced. Further, with rising e-commerce
and increasing government spending on infrastructure, talent pool for new-age jobs
initiatives of the likes of Make in India and emerging
start-ups are facilitating the creation of new jobs in the or job types and the skills that
market. This implies that the job landscape is highly
driven by demographic changes, government policies,
a rising Industry 4.0 and increasing globalization.
employers are today seeking
THE 4 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS
in prospective employees.
The report highlights the two
Industry 1.0
Mechanization,
steam power,
sides and compares them
weaving loom
1784 to understand the prevalent
Industry 2.0
Mass production,
assembly line, electrical
gaps, discusses and puts forth
energy
1870 possible solutions that could
Industry 3.0
Automation, computers
very well play a pivotal role in
and electronics
1969
India becoming a $5T economy
Industry 4.0 over the next few years.
Cyber physical systems, internet of
things (IoT), networks
Today

The impact of these factors on the industries will be

insurmountable. BFSI, automotive, pharma and IT have
already shown a rise in the adoption of evolutionary
technologies. These industries have reported both
a considerable change in existing job roles as well as
creation of new jobs. For instance, the automotive sector
has observed the role of a welder being eliminated due to
efficient applications of big data analytics and robotics.
TATA uses seven-spot welding robots in its framing
stations at the Pune and Sanand plants, Dr. Reddy’s
are using big data analytics for R&D, manufacturing,
quality, sales & marketing to derive insights for better
productivity, leading to creation of more jobs in
analytics. To grab the increasing opportunities with the
emergence of digital, industries are looking for people
with renewed skillsets and professional attitudes,
which they often find is not available in the current
talent market.

It is with this perspective that we present the India

Skills Report 2020, with an aim to provide an overview
of the supply of talent and the demand from industry.
This report brings together the readiness of our present
talent pool for new-age jobs or job types and the
skills that employers are today seeking in prospective
employees. The report brings out the two sides and

18 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

KEY TAKEAWAYS 56% of employers are likely to increase
hiring. However, the harrowing portrait
of low women participation in jobs
From our assessment of the talent available, the persists with less than 25% women
Wheebox National Employability Test (WNET) at work, despite the employability of
women reaching at par with men, in
Employability of India’s youth has comparison with the previous year.
remained stagnant for the past
three years, lingering around 46% of E-commerce and BFSI are the industries
participants who are job-ready. The that are expected to ramp up their
state of employability has not improved hiring. Watching this trend in the light of
over the last few years, implying the the availability of talent from the WNET,
need for more robust actions. it can be expected that the significant
employability of graduates in MBAs, BA
MBA-holders have taken over the slot and B.com courses (employability over
of the highest employable cohort 45% individually for each course) will
among the various course graduates well serve as the resource supply pool
with an employability score of 54%. for these sectors.
The position was held by engineers
the previous year. Employability for Candidates with 1-5 years of experience
pass-outs of B.Pharma, B.com, BA continue to remain in maximum demand
and Polytechnics has witnessed an (over 40%) while freshers make up for
appreciable increase at about 15%. only 15% of the overall talent demand.
Basis the educational qualifications in
Candidates from Maharashtra, Tamil demand, engineers have been expected
Nadu and Uttar Pradesh were more to be hired the most (30%), closely
employable than any other states, while followed by general graduates (BA/B.
Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune stood com/BSc.) (26%), which is in tandem
out as the most employable cities. Quite with the hiring trends posted by BFSI,
interestingly, while Maharashtra and e-commerce and BPO/KPO/ITeS.
Tamil Nadu have jumped up the ladder
by more than seven positions, the city The skills which employers seem
of Hyderabad is entirely a new addition to emphasize on while screening
to the listing, when compared candidates are domain knowledge,
with the past year’s data. adaptability to the environment,
learning agility and positive attitude. In
Male and female participants terms of quality of the talent available,
underwent a role reversal in terms of 42% employers say “most” job seekers
employability scores (from 48% and satisfy their requirement, but majority
46% respectively in 2018 to 46% and of them (53%) say that “some” meet
47% respectively in 2019). It shows the ask.
that women are as employable as
men, reflecting the opportunity for The findings heightened the concern
the industries to leverage this resource over gender parity as the intent for
pool. 2020 reflects a likely hiring ratio of
71:29 for Male to Female candidates,
The figures for candidates seeking with the widest disproportions
internship opportunities with expected to be seen in the Auto sector.
organizations remained alike as of the Quite interestingly, the survey indicated
last year’s records standing at 85%. the rising role of gigs in the economy at
Furthermore, to fulfill the skills training 13% share in the overall hiring intent by
and internship needs, more than 65% employment type.
of students asked for support from
educational institutions. Job portals, professional network and
social media, and internal referrals
The awareness of the Government of stood out as the topmost channels
India’s National Apprenticeship Scheme used for finding the right talent.
(NAPS 2015) among students is not Whereas Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and
very encouraging. Only 60% of students Maharashtra are the states preferred
were aware of this scheme. the most by employers for hiring talent.

Also, about 50% of employers

From Our Study Of The Talent Demand Side, The acknowledge the role of government-
Hiring Intent Survey initiated programmes in recruitments,
of which almost 9 in 10 employers
This year’s results show a mixed emotion admit that candidates meet their
from the industry as although the hiring requirements.
outlook for 2020 marks a decline from
the previous year, it is largely positive.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 19

FROM ‘THINK TANK ROUNDTABLE SERIES’ • Collaborating with academia and the industry to
formulate the curriculum for schools and colleges,
To support our survey findings, we conducted the ‘Think and setting up institutes for training and skilling
Tank Roundtable Series’ discussions with 200+ industry
leaders and academia from across major metro cities, For The Industry
which further helped us to understand the challenges
faced by employers in hiring potential talent. The HR • Reskilling the workforce to meet the requirement of
leaders highlighted problems of knowledge inadequacy changing jobs
amongst the candidates due to dated curriculum and
lack of practical knowledge owing to existing emphasis • Collaborating with colleges and training centres to
on theory-based learning. Furthermore, they expressed skill people
concerns regarding the attitude of the candidates which
lead them to chase paychecks, white-collared jobs and • Creating equal employment opportunities for men and
hop between jobs quite frequently. women, and supporting women workforce (example
programs such as ‘returning mom’)
Apart from bringing out their concerns, the HR industry
experts along with the India Skills Report team also For The Academia
formed a list of suggestions that the government,
academia and the industry can ponder upon to bridge • Updating curriculum as per the industry’s requirements
the skills gap in the country. A brief snapshot of the in collaboration with industry experts and the
recommendations is given below. government

For The Government • Improving the education system, by enhancing the

infrastructural facilities such as laboratories, research
• Policy-related changes to address labour issues in centers, faculties and imparting hands-on knowledge
labour-intensive industries, introduce policies for
supporting women workers in blue-collared jobs • Keeping the students updated on industry trends
through frequent industrial visits, internships and
• Effective monitoring and advertising of the skilling guest lectures
initiatives run by the central and state administrations,
and restructuring them to make the vocational and • Inculcating in students the attitude of continuous
training education truly effective learning and unlearning, adapt to the changing work
environment and pursue the course and /or career
• Incentivizing the corporates for promoting the they are truly passionate about.
inclusion of more internships, women-friendly
initiatives and training programs for skilling people
in advanced technologies

20 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 21
 expert-driven content portal, Big Think, the country is
eyeballing the opportunity to make it in the global top
5 list by 2020.

It is worth mentioning that the country’s big and small

economic patterns and trends are all highly impacted
by India’s largest demographic cohort – the millennials
– people who belong in the age bracket of 18-35 years.
The whole world is looking upon the Indian millennial
consumers as a strong-minded community that has
both witnessed and contributed to the multifaceted
evolution of the global consumer markets. The rise
of e-commerce that came in the wake of growing
penetration of the internet, across sub-urban, semi-
urban and later, even rural parts of the country evolved
Indian millennials into a key target market for global
brands. But then again, it should be noted that the role
of Indian millennials in the country’s economic uproar
has not been limited to consumerism.

Currently, millennials contribute nearly one half (47%)

of the country’s working population and will likely to
continue to remain the largest chunk of the Indian
workforce for the next ten years . According to the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in addition
to growing the size of their job market by creating
new opportunities, it is crucial for countries like India
to ensure that their working-age groups are sufficiently
equipped to seize these opportunities. Therefore, it
should be realized that millennials (and Generation
Z, or the young demographic cohorts in general) are
innovators, leaders, decision-makers, and in that, the
creators of the ‘future India’. This vast asset - the huge
working population - will need mature skills and refined
knowledge to tap into its full potential.

FORMALLY TRAINED WORKFORCE

TAKING A DIVE INTO INDIA’S DEMOGRAPHIC
DIVIDEND

The Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi envisions

India as a US$ 5 trillion economy and a global economic
powerhouse by 2025. Home to the world’s largest 96%
young population with over 600 million people under South Korea
the age of 25 years, India is one of the fastest-growing
economies in the world. Studies across many other
Asian economies have shown that such a ‘demographic
dividend’ has resulted in rapid economic progress.
Riding on the shoulders of its working youth, which
2.3%
India
outgrew its dependent population in 2018 , India stands
as the world’s sixth-biggest economy with a GDP of
US$ 2.7 trillion in 2019. Additionally, as per the global The pitiable figures on India’s formally trained
workforce – which stand at merely 2.3% in comparison
to economies like South Korea which are at a mammoth
share of 96% – indicate that the former will have to
rethink, redefine and repaint the entire talent map of
India’s big and the country to stand a fair chance of participating in
global jobs market and hence, play a resourceful role
small economic in the growing economy . Evolving technologies such
patterns and as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Machine
trends are all Learning, and Big Data have already found applications
across household utilities in the form of smart screen
highly devices, virtual assistants, intelligent sensors and
impacted by wearable fitness equipment, let alone integrations
India’s largest in industrial practices which have evidently risen
exponentially.
demographic cohort–

the millennials Besides creating many more jobs in these domains

and transforming existing job functions into new-age
roles, India Inc. will also need to upkeep its skilling, re-

22 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

skilling and up-skilling initiatives in such a massively levels, making it stand as the second-lowest in terms
tech-driven ecosystem and as per the fast-changing of women employees at senior management levels. To
future of work across industries. As underlined in our close the wide gap in female vs. male participation in
think tank roundtable series – ‘Decoding Jobs 2020’ – in work, India needs to restrategize its gender diversity
order to achieve this, all major stakeholders including goals by studying the global success stories, besides
the administration, academia and the industry will addressing the underlying reasons.
need to synergize their resources and efforts towards
elementary changes such as revisiting the curriculum, Social stereotypes and cultural norms binding women
diligent policy-making, establishing compensation to conventional household chores and childcare; more
structures, setting up standard protocols for both skill women opting for higher studies and hence, extended
education and workplace environment, among others. education keeping them out of the workforce; and
lack of safety measures and wider issues of sexual
Furthermore, to inch closer to its US$ 5 trillion economy abuse or violence against women are some of the key
ambition, it is vital for India to reimagine its talent contributing factors to such harrowing share of India’s
landscape by studying the global job market trends females at workplace. In its attempts to recuperate from
and pursue novel approaches to fulfil the skill gaps the situation, the Government has introduced several
in the industry and reset the talent demand-supply initiatives for incentivizing women employment under
equilibrium in the country. schemes such as MGNREGA, PMEGP and MUDRA.
Safety and friendly policies from the corporates
REVIVING THE INDIAN WORKPLACE FOR including flexible working hours, upskilling programs
MORE WOMEN for senior roles and mentorship for career growth can
help attract women to work.
Women constitute nearly half (48.1%) the population in
India and the economics of bringing their talent inside
the workplace has been established time and again. A
senior official from Niti Aayog – a policy think tank of
the Government of India – recently shared the necessity
of propelling the country’s female participation in the

Necessity of
propelling the
country’s
female
participation
in the workforce to
48% at par with the
global average over
the coming 10 years

workforce to 48%, at par with the global average over

the coming 10 years, in order to monetize this vast
talent pool and to further the GDP growth by another
US$ 700 billion. But what is disconcerting is the fact
that despite having sound employability scores (~40%)
through the previous years, only about 25%, in other
words, one in four Indian women are working presently.
Amidst all the concerns expressed by national and
international associations, the numbers of India’s
women at work have been conspicuously falling over
the past few decades. The country’s women workforce
numbers dipped close to a mere 23% in 2018, placing
India among the 10 countries with the lowest female
labour force participation rates. Further, the country
has been registering nearly 50% working women exiting
from their corporate jobs at junior and mid-senior

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 23

However, developing schemes for women’s retention
besides their entry in the workforce can be far more
effective in fast-tracking the growth of female labour
rates. One primary claimant of women’s time is childcare
and Brazil has come forth as an illustrative case study
in this respect. Through provision of free childcare
services, the country helped its mothers buy more
time to work and consequently, almost doubled their
share from 9% to 17% in the workforce . Another case
in point is the community-based childcare in Nepal,
run by mothers themselves under the ‘praveshdwar
home-based childcare programme’. Women form small
groups to take turns between acting as a bread-earner,
carrying out activities for income generation and a
caregiver, taking care of the children at their homes .
With the involvement of the GoI, such initiatives can
make a huge difference in India too.

PREPARING THE WORKFORCE FOR ‘GIGS’

Gigs or task-based workforce has increasingly taken the

driver’s seat in boosting the overall economy and job
market, globally. From independent consultants to full-
time workers who moonlight with Uber or Upwork a few
hours on the weekends, both the scope and prospects
for short-term employment is rapidly widening in India,
as in other evolving economies of the world. As per a
white paper published by Mastercard, global gigs are
generating a transactional gross volume worth over
US$ 200 billion, which is projected to reach US$ 455
billion by 2023. Being the leading country, with a 24%
share of the online labour market, India owns a huge
potential in terms of supply of freelancers, ranging
from software developers and data entry operators to
creative professionals such as marketers, writers and
translators.

Being the leading

country, with a 24% share
of the online labour
market, India owns a
huge potential in terms
of supply of

freelancers
Modern work and workplaces have seen major overhauls
over the past decade. On one hand, organisations have
adopted digitisation in their processes, while on the
other, candidates have started seeking multiple part-
time projects, allowing them to earn much more than
full-time engagements. India is making a move from
older work models to gigs at a rapid pace with a pool
of 15 million skilled professionals to suit the global
demand of contract-based or freelance jobs. However,
to leverage this agile talent, it is essential to transform
the traditional mindset, including introducing flexible
access to organisational systems. This can be achieved
by underlining the increased cost-efficiency for
companies through selective procurement of skillsets
basis the project needs.

24 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

The soaring startup culture in India with many startups
addressing their talent needs through gigs, stands as
a working example. A robust regulatory framework to
streamline contractual labour for both professionals and
employers can be another primary driver in this direction.
Furthermore, in terms of preparing the workforce for the
fast-evolving job market and particularly the gig-based
employment, the country needs to arm itself with the
capability to work in isolation and yet in collaboration
with other professionals. Critical thinking to be able to
provide consultancy and advisory services; networking
and interpersonal communication; ability to furnish
project-based roles; working in agile set-ups and the
aptitude to work efficiently sans-supervision are some
of the major skills that need to be cultivated in the
candidates of today for the ‘work of tomorrow’.

What is more is that Gigs can prove to be an impactful

means of bringing a greater number of Indian women
into the workforce, as this allows them to work with no
restrictions regarding their proximity to the workplace.
The global community of freelancers comprises
of over 60% women. By ramping up awareness
campaigns across industries, professional networks
and skilled women, the Government of India can also
effectively use this practice to enable more women to
hone their skills and seize new learning opportunities
at their own flexibility. Owing to this flexibility, which
is intrinsic to gig-based work, Indian professionals can
pick international projects, serving any geography in
the world from anywhere in the country, thus, widening
their exposure and evolving their global employability
skills.

CROSSING THE FRONTIERS WITH GLOBAL

EMPLOYABILITY

The talent available in evolving economies such as India

and China is increasingly meeting with the opportunities
available in the mature job markets such as the US,
giving rise to a new cohort of global professionals. The
expansive pool of millennial professionals in India is set
to become one of the largest labour forces in the world
by 2027 . Hence, India’s potential to explore the global
job market with its skilled personnel is beyond question.
As for Government support, the Ministry of Overseas
Indian Affairs has conceptualised bilateral agreements
with several countries to simplify the immigration
processes for Indian professionals. Also, the Ministry of
External Affairs has set up a ‘think tank’ to help promote
overseas employment for Indians.

Interestingly, the cost of staying connected with the

world has quickly declined in the country with an ever-
growing penetration of the internet. Location – be it
urban or rural – no longer poses a barrier to people in
uncovering prospects that might be available several
thousands of miles apart. There has, thus, been no
better time for the Indian youth to discover global
opportunities. Moreover, another edge that Indian
professionals hold, is the continually rising focus on
breeding English speakers within the country. Although
the language is non-native, still a large number of
Indians – around 350 million – have proficiency in
English, meaning hassle-free business communication
across most nations and hence, leading to successful
business interactions.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 25

In fact, the rapid boom of the IT sector in India is an
illustration of how global demand can ramp growth trends can ultimately help
not just in skills and knowledge of the professionals,
bringing them at par with the global standards, but also the country feed economic
by enhancing their exposure to cross-cultural working
styles, boosting their overall international employability.
In today’s fiercely competitive job environment, one
development aided by
in two Fortune 500 companies outsources software
development to Indian firms, indicating further international quality education,
prospects for our IT services. This reflects a positive
outlook for the nation with an overall increase in the
inflow of revenue, adding billions to our economy. It is,
development of globally
therefore, imperative for the Government to develop an
international-level skilling mindset for the country to
competitive skills and access
stride forward towards rapid economic growth.
to world-class knowledge and
What we must focus on is to information. This will eventually
promote the development of make our personnel important
Indians into not just global contributors not only to the
citizens – who can readily adopt world but also to the Indian
a cross-cultural philosophy, economy. Initiatives in this
but also global professionals direction will set out to be the
– who can leverage the latest winning leap towards achieving
technological developments India’s dream of building a ‘$5
and adapt to the best practices trillion’ economy in the next
shared by their global peers. 5 years.
Keeping pace with international

26 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 27
ARE STUDENTS JOB READY? CONSISTENCY IN OVERALL EMPLOYABILITY
OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS – ONLY 46%
India is widely known for enjoying its demographic STUDENTS, JOB-READY
dividend. With almost half of India’s current population
– over 1.2 billion people – under the age of 26 and To open the Wheebox National Employability Test
the median age of the country projected to be 29 by survey analysis for 2020, let us look at the results
2020, India is making for the youngest country in the for overall employability of students. About 46%
world. However, to optimally leverage this remarkable of students in this year’s survey were found to be
demographic, the country needs to continuously find employable or ready to take-up jobs. While the figures
ways to keep its manpower skilled so as to meet the show a marginal decline from those of the previous
demand from its industries while also seizing global year, the overall trend is still positive in comparison with
opportunities by supplying talent to the international the past 6 years’ result. This can be attributed to the
job markets. rising efforts in skill development by the government
and academic institutions. However, there is still a lot
As a step further in the direction of improving the of ground to be covered in order to make all students
skills of the youth, we have been conducting an annual employable and requires holistic and concerted efforts
assessment of students to understand the kind and from all stakeholders – the government, industry,
level of skills they possess and what can be done to academia and students.
better equip them for upcoming job market trends. The
Wheebox National Employability Test survey which was OVERALL EMPLOYABILITY
conducted for the seventh consecutive time this year,
has been instrumental in its approach as well as reach
for bringing forth the reflection of our youth’s talent 33.00% 38.12% 40.44% 45.60% 47.38% 46.21%

and their proficiency to meet the industries’ needs.

The Wheebox National Employability Test survey

(WNET), that captures the state of the talent supply
side, was conducted from July 2019 to November
2019, with more than 3,00,000 students from varied
educational backgrounds participating in the test. The
Wheebox National Employability Test is a scientifically
drafted assessment that serves as a guide to assess the
talent pool available and tests their employability from
the perspective of their readiness to join the industry.
This test was taken online and was accessible from
mobiles, tablets, computers as well as laptops. We
approached more than 3500 educational institutions
from 28 States and 9 Union Territories of the country
making this one of India’s most notable employability
tests conducted nationwide.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

MANAGEMENT GRADUATES MOST

EMPLOYABLE, WHILE ENGINEERS
WITNESSING A DIP IN EMPLOYABILITY
SCORE

When analyzed from the perspective of most employable

candidates as per the courses, MBA students clearly
stood out in the race with a 54% score. This new
trend has whipped that of the last two years, where
their employability consistently remained under 40%.
Surprisingly, this year, the scores for B.tech students
have declined significantly. The net employability
score (for B.Tech) was 49%, as against 57% registered
last year. The decline is reflected across all trades of
engineering. MCA graduates have also witnessed a
decline in employability by almost 18%. The decline
in technical and computer-related courses paints an
upsetting picture for India, which is widely considered
a hub of IT professionals. Moreover, the industry
is fast moving towards the adoption of advanced
technologies such as AI, Data Analytics, Robotics, AR/
VR and automation, which is opening a plethora of new

28 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

job opportunities in the market. The declining quality of STATES WITH THE HIGHEST EMPLOYABILITY
resources would leave these opportunities unused and
hit the productivity of the industry. Moving further towards the states with the highest
employable talent, of all states and UTs, the top 3
The B.Pharma, Polytechnic, BCom and BA courses, on states were found to be Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and
the other hand, saw an improvement in employability Uttar Pradesh. It is interesting to note that Maharashtra
where more students have become employable or job- (up from 9th position) and Tamil Nadu (up from 10th
ready from last year. The strength of BA and BCom position) improved their position remarkably this year
students becoming employable has increased by more to become the most employable states. States that
than 15%, reflecting the successful administration and registered a dip in their ranking were West Bengal (2nd
training initiatives at these institutes. in last year) and Haryana which could not make into the
top 10 list.

DOMAIN WISE EMPLOYABILITY

STATE WITH THE HIGHEST EMPLOYABILITY

MCA 25%
43% 67.99%
62.97%

Polytechnic 32% 61.78%

18% 53.56%
52.83%
B. Sc. 34% 50.39%
47% 49.99%

38.09%
B. Pharma 45%
37.30%
36%
30.39%

B. Com. 47%
30%

B.A. 48%
29% Andhra Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh

West Bengal
Maharashtra

Tamil Nadu

Telangana
Karnataka

Rajasthan

Gujarat
Engineering 49%

Delhi
57%

M.B.A. 48%
54%
36%
CITIES WITH THE HIGHEST EMPLOYABILITY
2018 2019
70.27%
66.52%
63.20%
ENGINEERING COURSES WISE EMPLOYABILITY
62.86%
54.83%

Civil 44% 49.31%

Engineering 50% 48.90%
46.09%
Mechanical 43% 40.00%
Engineering 53% 33.79%

Computer 44%
Science 58%

50%
Vishakhapatnam

Electrical
Engineering 60%
Coimbatore
Hyderabad

Mangalore
Bengaluru
New Delhi

Lucknow
Chennai
Mumbai

Information 52%
Pune

Technology 60%

Electronics & 58%

Communication 60%

2018 2019

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 29

SKILLS AVAILABILITY STATE WISE current year. Male employability score, however, has
declined marginally from last year.

Business
Numerical
Critical Computer The increase in the number of job-ready women presents
Communication Thinking Skills an opportunity for India Incorporation to harness their
talent and engage more women in jobs as this is the
Telangana Telangana Rajasthan West Bengal most essential step in filling the skills gap in the country.
Furthermore, the survey tried to trace the states where
Rajasthan Rajasthan Telangana Rajasthan
such a talent pool of women can be found. Telangana,
Delhi Maharashtra Delhi Delhi Rajasthan and Delhi were found to be the top three
states that house the highest number of employable
Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra Tamil Nadu females. At the city level, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad and
Visakhapatnam constitute the top three cities to have
Karnataka Delhi Karnataka Uttar Pradesh
the most employable female talent pool.
Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Uttar Pradesh Gujarat

West Bengal Karnataka West Bengal Karnataka MALE EMPLOYABILITY STATE WISE

Andhra
Gujarat Gujarat Maharashtra
Pradesh

Andhra Andhra
Gujarat Telangana
Pradesh Pradesh

Andhra
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu
Pradesh

Taking a deeper look at the employability at the city level,

Mumbai tops the list closely followed by Hyderabad,
which saw its entry into the list for the first time. Further,
cities including Bengaluru, New Delhi, Pune, Lucknow
and Chennai have maintained their presence in the top 1st Delhi
10 list over the past 6 years. Nashik and Guntur which 2nd Punjab
made it in the list last year, have however disappeared 3rd Uttar Pradesh
this year, replaced by Mangalore and Coimbatore. 4th Maharashtra
5th Gujarat
6th Karnataka
Further, basis the 4 skills that we assessed for the
7th Rajasthan
participating students from the states, Telangana aced 8th Andhra Pradesh
the chart for the availability of business communication, 9th Tamil Nadu
numerical skills and critical thinking skills. However, 10th Telangana
the state misses big time on computer skills, when
compared to other states.

MALE EMPLOYABILITY CITY WISE

GENDER PARITY IN EMPLOYABILITY

Studying the employability scores amongst men and

women, we found that both are at par on employability
scores. Like the previous year, female employability
recorded an upward trend for this year, climbing from
38% in 2017 to 46% in 2018 and finally to 47% in the

GENDER WISE EMPLOYABILITY

1st Mumbai
2nd Ghaziabad
3rd Hyderabad
4th Pune
48% 47% 5th New Delhi
46%
6th Bengaluru
46% 7th Chennai
8th Mangalore
9th Visakhapatnam
10th Lucknow

2018 2019

30 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

FEMALE EMPLOYABILITY STATE WISE (19%) and family (about 15%) also influence to some
extent in the decision-making process.

WELL INFORMED TO MAKE CAREER CHOICES

1st Telangana
2nd Rajasthan Yes (86%)
3rd Delhi No (14%)
4th Karnataka
5th Andhra Pradesh
6th Uttar Pradesh INFORMATION SOURCES
7th Maharashtra
8th Tamil Nadu
9th West Bengal 55%
10th Gujarat

FEMALE EMPLOYABILITY CITY WISE 3%

6%

Educational
Institutes
Educational
Sites
Family
16% Friends
19% Newspaper

Ambiguity And Information Overload Acting As

Deterrents

1st Hyderabad Further, about 40% students bring out their concerns
2nd Visakhapatnam regarding the ambiguity in the information and the
3rd Ghaziabad information overload, which in both cases makes it hard
4th Bengaluru
for them to understand what to do and how to do.
5th Mumbai
6th New Delhi
7th Mangalore
GAPS IN INFORMATION
8th Coimbatore
9th Pune
10th Chennai
40.80%

19.89%
PREPAREDNESS OF STUDENTS TO DECIDE
CAREER PATHS

To understand from the students what facilitates or

deters their career success, we asked them if they
have all resources to make informed decisions about
their career and what help they expect from institutes 7.29%
and industry to make better careers, we observed the
following points:

Majority Of Students Feel They Are Well-Informed To 13.26% 18.77%

Make Career Choices
I have all the necessary information
86% of students cite that they are well-equipped with The information lacks clairty on the steps to be taken
the information to make better career choices. This is Lot of information available and it is difficult to comprehend all
mostly facilitated by the information they get from their The information is not complete
educational institutes (about 55%). Educational sites The information is not field specific and relevant

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 31

SKILLS TRAINING AND INTERNSHIP – MAJOR ASKS OF STUDENTS

What support will

you like to get from
What support do you
What support will you educational institution
require as to make
like to get from your to enable you to prepare
informed choices
educational institution? yourself for the
about your career?
oppotunities in the
employment domain?

Skills Trainings 32.69% 35.21% 37.39%

Internship
31.17% 25.75% 25.31%
Opportunities

Interactions with
17.87% 18.09% 19.31%
the companies

Career Counselling 12.67% 15.44% 12.19%

Career Fairs 5.60% 5.51% 5.81%

Internships+
0 0 0
Opportunities

National Apprenticeship Scheme (NAPS 2015). This

SUPPORT SOUGHT BY STUDENTS is surprising as the rest 40% do not have information
regarding this. This has resulted in many students
Skills training and internship opportunities, together
missing out the opportunities, thereby raising concerns
making over 65% of ask, are the two major areas where
over the outreach and marketing of the Government-
students require help from educational institutions and
initiated programmes and information dissemination by
skilling ecosystem to enable them to make better career
educational institutes about internship opportunities.
choices, while also equipping them with industry-
relevant skills and knowledge to ready them for the job
market. Additionally, students have also laid importance
upon the interactions with companies, which is deemed AWARENESS OF NAPS
necessary to stay updated on the job requirements. All-
in-all students feel the necessity to connect with the
industry to learn and explore their knowledge horizons.

To further highlight the importance of industry

connections, a great majority of students believe
that apprenticeship of 3-12 months will improve their
employability to a great extent.

APPRENTICESHIP - A WAY TO IMPROVE EMPLOYABILITY

Yes (60%)
No (40%)

WILLINGNESS TO AVAIL APPRENTICESHIPS UNDER NAPS

Yes (94%)
No (6%)

NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME

(NAPS) AWARENESS JUST LIMITED TO 60%
STUDENTS Yes (91%)
No (9%)
Contrary to students’ need for internships and skills
training, only 60% are aware of the Government’s

32 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Almost all students further added that if given a chance for internships. Telangana has been reporting good
to avail apprenticeships through NAPS, they would results from the employability perspective, indicating
definitely leverage this opportunity. Additionally, emails its determination for growth. This is further supported
were the most preferred channel to reach out to them, by its placement data for the PMKVY scheme, wherein
as cited by 7 in 10 students. the certified vs placed students’ statistics is 65% for
short-term training programmes, much higher than
CANDIDATE PREFERENCE many other states.

The WNET survey, apart from assessing the students MOST PREFERRED STATE TO APPLY FOR INTERNSHIPS
on their skills and support required to enhance their
careers, also extends to understand their preferences
in terms of internship and work location and salary
expectations.

Majority Of Students Seek Internship Opportunities

An internship is an effective way to develop a student’s

practical knowledge and attitude towards a job and
hence, subsequently a professional career. In the same
way, it is an opportunity for a company to explore
the talent of the candidates and mold their skills and
knowledge to evolve them into fitting resources for the
company. However, the concept of internship is not very
1st Telangana
effectively used in India, which in turn makes low to no
2nd Andhra Pradesh
addition in the skills or knowledge of the candidates.
3rd Gujarat
Also, the number of internship opportunities available
4th Haryana
is, quite low making students feel devoid of these 5th Karnataka
opportunities. This could be one of the reasons for lower 6th Tamil Nadu
employability at the graduate and postgraduate levels. 7th Uttar Pradesh
8th Maharashtra
The survey reports that about 88% of students are 9th Delhi
willing to take up internship opportunities. This gives a 10th West Bengal
clear impression that students are keen to upgrade their
skills as per the industry demands and want to fill in the
knowledge gap that might have been created due to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu – Preferred States For Work
the college’s dated curriculum. In such case, in line with
the above analysis wherein students seek support from The survey further reports the preference for job
institutes and industry to make well-informed career locations by candidates. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
choices, the industry should acknowledge the efforts Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh came to the fore as
of the students and provide them with opportunities to the most preferred states to work in. Telangana, even
reskill and upskill them. though, ranked among the top 10, was not placed near
the top of the list. Further, among the states analyzed
from the perspective of employers’ choice for hiring,
PREFERENCE FOR INTERNSHIP Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh constituted the
top 5 preferred list.

88.19% 83.75% 83.51% 87.65%

PREFERRED STATES FOR WORK

MALE FEMALE

State City State City

Maharashtra Any Tamil Nadu Bengaluru

Tamil Nadu Bengaluru Maharashtra Coimbatore

Uttar Pradesh Pune Andhra Pradesh Any

Andhra Pradesh Chennai Karnataka Pune

Karnataka Coimbatore Uttar Pradesh Hyderabad

2016 2017 2018 2019 Gujarat Delhi/NCR Telangana Chennai

Delhi Hyderabad Delhi Delhi

Telangana – Most Preferred State To Apply For West Bengal Delhi Rajasthan Delhi/NCR
Internships
Punjab Mumbai Gujarat Mumbai
Further analysis of the survey showcased that Telangana
Telangana Haryana Lucknow
was the most preferred state amongst students to go

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 33

Moving towards what students expect from the institutes to ensure superior quality of and easy access
industry in terms of remuneration offered, more than to its training/skilling programmes across cities, towns
55% students expect the remuneration to be above and suburbs, alike.
Rs. 2.6 lacs annually. The trend is well-aligned with the
previous year’s trend where more students expected
a salary in this range. The Indian salary ranges when
compared to those in other developing countries such
as China, Singapore and South Korea, fare the worst.
The scenario is, however, expected to improve in the
future as companies increasingly focus on hiring key
skills that are essential for their business over the
longer-term, hence, not barring themselves from paying
more for what they want. The students are, therefore,
required to leverage this opportunity and aspire to
upskill themselves.

PREFERRED SALARY RANGES

58% 44% 53%

2017
2018
2019

22% 31% 23%

19% 22% 21%

`2.6 Lacs and Above `2 Lacs - `2.6 Lacs `0 - `2.6 Lacs

More Than 55% Of Students Would Like To Have Salary

Above Rs. 2.6 Lacs PA
SKILLS INVESTMENT VS OUTCOME
Moving towards the end of the Wheebox National
Employability Test survey, we have observed that
Rajasthan
overall employability has remained stagnant through
the previous few years with an approximate score
Rajasthan is one of the first state in India to establish a
of about 45%. This signifies that there has been no
mission for livelihoods, in September 2004, in order to
substantial improvement in the skilling ecosystem in
address the challenges of unemployment and ensuring
the country. It is important to realize that as and the
gainful and sustainable employment by formulating
world shifts towards a knowledge-oriented economy,
appropriate and innovative strategies for the poor
businesses increasingly adopt new technologies and
and vulnerable people. To materialize this mission,
the government strives to make its industries and talent
Rajasthan Mission on Skill and Livelihoods Development
stronger, the skill development framework cannot
Corporation was created. Rajasthan government has
remain too far behind.
also opened a Skills University , first in India. Since its
commencement in July 2018, 58 skills related institutions
The supply side needs to focus on the new-age skills
have been affiliated and more than 1000 students are
development and especially, in tandem with the
undergoing training.
industries’ demands, lest it could cripple the entire
demand-supply outlook. Further, students need to build
Further, the government is supporting the much
an attitude of learning and accepting challenges rather
rewarded PMKVY (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
than just passing and getting degrees. To this view, the
Yojana) is one of the flagship programs of Government
government needs to monitor the enforcement of all
of India under the aegis of the present Prime Minister
its initiatives and operational efficiency of the training
of the country. The Government of India sanctioned an

34 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

amount of Rs. 28,38,71, 578 for year 2016-18 towards Karnataka Yojane (CMKKY), the government allocated
implementation of the State engagement components Rs. 90 crores for CMKKY to impart industrial training to
of PMKVY (2016-20). Also, for year 2019-20, MSDE, GOI 70,000 new candidates, while Rs.37.5 crore has been
approved Rs.33,11,71,776 for the scheme. set aside for upgrading the skills of 25,000 women
garment workers belonging to Scheduled Castes and
The statistics of deployment of funds vs outcome has Scheduled Tribe communities.
not been very encouraging however some distance
the same has been travelled. Out of 1,97,212 candidates Further, the Karnataka Government strives to effectively
trained under PMKVY 2016-2020 scheme for Short Term implement schemes rolled out by the Government of
and Special Projects only 44% and 18% candidates got India. One such flagship program is Pradhan Mantri
employment from 1000+ established skilling centers Kaushal Vikas Yojana, PMKVY. For this, the Government
across Rajasthan. of India sanctioned an amount of Rs. 43,99,20,000
for year 2016-18 towards implementation of the State
engagement components of PMKVY (2016-20). The
government has further approved an amount of Rs.
PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE
47,16,52,896 for 2019-20 for this initiative.

71% 81% 80% The statistics of deployment of funds vs outcome

has not been very satisfactory from the placement
perspective, especially for short term training. Out
of 84,123 candidates trained under PMKVY 2016-
2020 scheme for Short Term training only 39% got
employment from 140+ training centers. The placement
33% 52% under special projects was quite encouraging-70%
candidates got placed from 8,493 trained.

24% 42% PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

86% 81% 75%

89% 49%

70% 39%

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

Short Term Special

RPL
Training Projects

Enrolled Candidates 196191 281344 2408

Ongoing Training 1171 12780 216

Trained Candidates 195020 268564 2192

Assessed Candidates 162033 251880 1289

Passed Candidates 154309 231734 1079

Placement 119243 392

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL
Training Centers 2021 1191 18

Training Partners 56 470 9 Short Term Special

RPL
Training Projects

Enrolled Candidates 2760580 90250 9040

Karnataka
Ongoing Training 67943 6127 547

Karnataka has a robust economy, at current prices, the Trained Candidates 2692673 84123 8493
Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Karnataka
Assessed Candidates 2152500 76461 7602
stood at about Rs 14,08,112 crore in 2018-19 . The State
is the IT hub of India and home to the fourth largest Passed Candidates 2010259 67944 7269
technology cluster in the world. The Government of
Karnataka has a special focus on the education and skills Placement 33092 5940
up-gradation of the state to address to the issues of Training Centers 2046 143 95
skills development. In this endeavor, in the current year
budget allocation , under the Chief Minister’s Kaushalya Training Partners 65 66 19

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 35

Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh

The Government of Tamil Nadu has created the Tamil Andhra Pradesh, the State, has well-developed
Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC), a nodal social, physical, industrial infrastructure and virtual
agency to establish the skills development initiatives in connectivity and contributed 4.74% to India’s GDP with
the state. Under this, 227,106 youth have been trained SGDP of Rs. 809,547 crores for the FY 2017-18 and Rs.
in the last 5 years . Further, the Government of India 933,402 for FY 2018-19. It is ranked number 1 in India’s
started ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT) in 2009 Ease of doing business rankings. The state government
under the PPP model to bridge the industry-academia established Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development
skill gap. It undertakes various initiatives such as faculty Corporation (APSSDC) in the year 2014, with an aim
development, skill development, youth empowerment, to implement a structured solution to skill and upskill
entrepreneurship development, research and journal the workforce, increase employability and promote
development, industry-institute interaction and digital entrepreneurship aligned with industrial growth of the
empowerment. state. Further, Andhra Pradesh became the first state
to reserve 75% of jobs in industrial units, factories, joint
To further strengthen the efforts made by the state ventures and PPP projects for local youths.
government in skills development, the Government of
India has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 68,86,21,441 To enable the state government to effectively implement
(for 14 sectors) each for 2018-19 and 2019-20 towards the state engagement components of PMKVY (2016-
implementation of the State engagement components 20), the Government of India sanctioned an amount of
of PMKVY (2016-20). Rs. 11,84,26,464 for the year 2017-18. The MSDE has also
approved and amount of Rs. 35,52,79,392 for 2018-19
From the placement perspective, out of 1,56,168 and 2019-20.
candidates trained under PMKVY 2016-2020 scheme
for short term training 55% got employment from Looking at the placement data of skilling ecosystem of
450+ training centers. The skilling scenario presents a PMKVY in the state, 65% of certified candidates from
requirement of lot of efforts to make the placements short-term training and close to 40% from special
better. projects got job offers.

PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

89% 67%
72% 85% 74%
75% 82% 77%

67% 55%
39% 65%

28% 56%

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

Short Term Special Short Term Special

RPL RPL
Training Projects Training Projects
Enrolled Candidates 184398 162138 12576 Enrolled Candidates 41969 102140 2333
Ongoing Training 283 5970 1390 Ongoing Training 75 6239 418
Trained Candidates 184115 156168 11186 Trained Candidates 41894 95901 1915
Assessed Candidates 154134 139626 8738 Assessed Candidates 33434 89922 1534
Passed Candidates 141839 127295 8413 Passed Candidates 31171 81739 1387
Placement - 85629 7483 Placement - 53320 537
Training Centers 1712 460 267 Training Centers 732 187 34
Training Partners 56 152 12 Training Partners 38 77 7
Job Roles 259 128 39 Job Roles 109 90 21

36 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Uttar Pradesh The performance statistics in terms of placement has
not been satisfactory. Only a meagre 24% of 4,95,822
Uttar Pradesh has contributed over 8% to India’s GDP candidates trained under short term trainings and 42%
with SGDP of Rs 15.42 trillion for the FY 2018-19 . It of 6,729 candidates trained under special projects got
has large base of skilled laborers and has emerged employment from 660+ training centers.
as a key hub for IT and ITeS industries including
software, captive business process outsourcing (BPO) West Bengal
and electronics. The UP government has established
UPSDM programme in the year 2013 under which The state of West Bengal contributed 12.58% to India’s
training is being provided to the youth of the state in GDP for FY 2018-19 . The government has established
electrical, healthcare, construction, beauty and wellness Paschim Banga Society for Skill Development (PBSSD)
sectors. To further strengthen the skills ecosystem, the focusing on interventions in skill development in an
government is opening two Skill Centre of Excellence integrated and coordinated manner for providing
vocational education and skill development leading to a
sustainable employment for the people. Utkarsh Bangla
PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE Scheme launched by CM, is a flagship programme of
the state, which aims to train 6 lakh people every year.
71% 81% 80% To give impetus to the scheme, the State Government
has allocated Rs 1,106 crore to the Technical Education,
Training and Skill Development department for the FY
2019-20 . Further, in 2019, the government imparted
training to 5,15,010 people. It has been awarded with
the skill award – “Gold” as SKOCH AWARD on 25th
33% 52% Feb.2019.
24% 42%
The Government of India, MSDE approved an amount
of Rs.38,04,64,812 for 2019-20 towards implementation
of the State engagement components of PMKVY (2016-
20). MSDE sanctioned an amount of Rs.38,04,64,812 for
year 2017-18.

From placement perspective, out of 1,49,393 candidates

trained under short term training, about 50% got
placements. However, the figures are discouraging for
special projects, where only 13% trained candidates got
the jobs.

PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

76% 81% 77%

(CoE)s – one for plumbing and other for services sector.

India Institute of Skills (Kanpur), made in collaboration
17% 58%
with Institute of Technical Education, Singapore is also
going to be operational soon.
13% 47%
An amount of Rs.52.26 crores was sanctioned by
the Government of India for year 2017-18 towards
implementation of the State engagement components
of PMKVY (2016-20). MSDE has also approved
an amount of Rs.208.04 crores for 2016-20, to be
sanctioned equally over 4 years period.

Short Term Special

RPL
Training Projects
Enrolled Candidates 383485 528361 11099
Ongoing Training 1663 32539 4370
Trained Candidates 381822 495822 6729
Assessed Candidates 325176 452722 5529 Special Projects Short Term Training RPL
Passed Candidates 304850 401875 4795
Placement - 207676 1587
Training Centers 3027 1605 127
Training Partners 68 640 28
Job Roles 245 170 52

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 37

 Short Term Special While reporting the placement statistics, out of 4,399
RPL
Training Projects certified candidates under special projects, 33% of the
Enrolled Candidates 87178 163906 2642 candidates got employment from 50+ training centers
and out of 2,01,486 certified candidates in short term
Ongoing Training 440 14513 534
training, close to 60% landed jobs.
Trained Candidates 86738 149393 2108
Assessed Candidates 70952 135704 1898
Short Term Special
Passed Candidates 67175 120985 1610 RPL
Training Projects
Placement - 70160 280
Enrolled Candidates 133694 243342 9320
Training Centers 1038 264 57
Ongoing Training 847 6253 1673
Training Partners 43 123 10
Trained Candidates 132847 237089 7647
Job Roles 170 120 20
Assessed Candidates 107414 220328 5364
Passed Candidates 101994 201486 4399
Haryana Placement - 119466 1430
Training Centers 1845 853 55
The state of Haryana contributed around 3.32% to
Training Partners 58 333 18
India’s GDP for the FY 2018-19. Haryana is known for
creating a progressive business environment and offers Job Roles 197 133 47
a wide range of incentives to business organizations.
It is ranked as a 3rd best state in the India’s ease of Delhi
doing business as of 2018. For skills development, the
government formed Haryana Skill Development Mission Delhi is one of the fastest growing union territories of the
(HSDM) in 2015 which provides training through 80+ country with a State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) of
courses covering 15+ sectors available across various Rs 7.8 trillion for the FY 2018-19 . The Delhi government,
schemes like SURYA, SAKSHAM, PMKVY, Driver under its Department of Social Welfare, has formed the
Training, SEEKHO-SIKHAAO, and DAKSHA. It also has Delhi Skill Development Programme (DSDP) to provide
Entrepreneurship scheme which is currently being employment related skills to aspiring candidates.
implemented through HVSU (Haryana Vishwakarma Skill The skills are imparted in smart centers by certified
University). Further, to drive the initiatives successfully, training partners approved by the NSDC (National Skill
the Finance Minister has allocated Rs 680.06 crore Development Council). According to NSDC, 80% of the
for skill development and industrial training for the FY trained candidates will be offered employment through
2019-20. networking by the training partners.

To enable the state government of Haryana to effectively The Government of India approved an amount of
implement State engagement components of PMKVY Rs.54,66,00,600 each for the year 2018-19 and 2019-
(2016-20), the Government of India sanctioned an 20 towards implementation of the State engagement
amount of Rs.32,37,56,924.40 for 2019-20. Earlier Rs. components of PMKVY (2016-20). The previously
21,56,99, 375 was sanctioned for year 2017-18 and Rs. sanctioned amount was Rs. 15,39,72,000 for year 2017-
32,33,41,200 for 2018-19.

PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

58% 85% 77% 71% 82% 78%

33% 59% 49% 50%

19% 50% 35% 41%

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

38 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 Short Term Special
RPL
Training Projects

Enrolled Candidates 432477 117922 25053

Ongoing Training 47997 9668 1039

Trained Candidates 385580 108254 24014

Assessed Candidates 270683 95337 13846

Passed Candidates 246235 82732 8314

Placement 39130 108

Training Centers 8936 304 156

Training Partners 64 121 14

Job Roles 283 116 43

Vikas Abhiyaan (PMKUVA) is a flagship program of

the department that provides free skill training to
youth through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and
empanelled private Vocational Training Providers
(VTPs). It is a leading state in terms of the number
of students trained in vocational courses (150000+)
and it puts a special emphasis on empowerment of
women and the weaker sections of the society through
livelihood and employment opportunities. Interestingly,
over 50% of the beneficiaries of PMKUVA are women.
An amount of Rs. 85,77,62,615 each for the year 2018-19
and 2019-20 has been approved by MSDE towards the
implementation of state engagement components of
PMKVY (2016-20). Earlier, an amount of Rs. 85,77,62,615
for the year 2017-18 was sanctioned by the Government
RPL
Short Term Special of India.
Training Projects
Enrolled Candidates 103841 124051 15358 Looking at the skilling ecosystem, out of 24,014
Ongoing Training 115 2790 2061 candidates trained under special projects, less than
Trained Candidates 103726 121261 13297
1% of candidates got employment from 150+ training
centers. Further, of 1,08,254 trainees trained under the
Assessed Candidates 85450 108551 11451
short-term training program, only 36% candidates were
Passed Candidates 80497 99761 9493 able to land a job, thus not presenting an adequate
Placement - 50143 4622 picture of skilling programmes.
Training Centers 1004 291 59
Training Partners 52 167 27
PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE
Job Roles 211 112 37

35% 76% 64%

18. A total of 81,000 trainees will be trained between
2017-20 using the funds.

The statistics of deployment of funds vs outcome

has not been very satisfactory from the placement
perspective, for both short term training and special 1% 47%
projects. Out of 1,21,261 candidates trained under 0% 36%
PMKVY scheme for Short Term training only 41% got
employment from 290+ training centers. The placement
under special projects was even lower, 35% candidates
got placed from 13,297 trained.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra has a State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP)

of Rs 2,411,600 crores as of 2017-18 contributing around
14.11% to India’s GDP. In the year 2015, the government
formed Department of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship to streamline the vocational training
and livelihood promotion activities of the government.
The Pramod Mahajan Kaushalya and Uddyojakta Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 39

 The performance statistics of PMKVY for the state from
placement perspective is better than that of other
states. Statistics show that 55% of 1,22,832 candidates
trained for short term training and 56% of 2,199
candidates trained under special projects were able to
get employment from 240+ training centers.

PMKVY PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

76% 85% 74%

74% 65%
56% 55%

Special Projects Short Term Training RPL

Short Term Special

RPL
Training Projects

Enrolled Candidates 65359 126522 2569

Ongoing Training 467 3690 370

Trained Candidates 64892 122832 2199

Assessed Candidates 52092 113865 1903

Passed Candidates 48047 104001 1664

Placement 67473 1231

Telangana Training Centers 882 220 22

Telangana is the fastest growing state in India registering Training Partners 51 71 7

14.9% growth in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) Job Roles 181 88 28
for FY 2019 . It is becoming hub of various global
companies with the development of High-Tech city
in Hyderabad. In its budget of 2019, the government
introduced an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016
per month to the eligible, totaling Rs 1,810 crore for FY
ending 2020. The Government has formed Telangana
Jagruthi Skill and Knowledge (Tj Skill) under National
Skill Development Corporation of India (NSDC) and
organization TASK (Telangana Academy for Skill and
Knowledge) to skill and upskill state’s youth.

To support the PMKVY scheme, MSDE approved

an amount of Rs. 41,30,29,890 for 2018-19 and Rs.
27,53,44,124 for 2019-20 towards implementation of the
State engagement components of PMKVY (2016-20).
For the year 2017-18, MSDE sanctioned an amount of
Rs. 22,94,64,472.

40 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

ACADEMIA SPEAKS

holders. Exponential and disruptive technologies

have created a situation where our educated
youth are not finding jobs in modern industries
Prof. (Dr.) Ashwini Kumar Sharma
due to lack of required skills. We need to develop
DEAN - School of Engineering, COE new skills among youth which will be in demand
Kaziranga University, Assam during next decade or so. There is no authentic
manpower requirement data available which is

”
based on the future requirements of the industry
for the next five to ten years.

“ The Wheebox National Employability Test

(WNET) is a great platform for the students to
understand their skill sets and competencies.
By this, they can get insight to prepare for
industry needs and work on a specific area for
Chandrasekhar Sripada
improvement. I am sure this initiative will benefit
Executive Director (Human

”
the students of all the courses and lead them to a
better workforce of the future. Capital & Leadership Initiatives)
Indian School Of Business

“
Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi
Employability, given our burgeoning and young
Director, BIMTECH, Greater Noida
human capital, has to reached the proportions
Z.H. College of Engg. & Tech. of a national emergency. Government alone
Executive President, Education can’t handle this challenge. Here are three things
Promotion Society for India that India Inc can do: 1) Make skill upgradation a
board agenda and CEO KPI 2) Make Analysts and

“
Investors to ask and review what skills a company
has identified as obsolete, and how is skill
The road to India becoming a $5 Trillion economy
upgradation being provided for those who will
traverses through transformation of Indian
lose jobs due to old skills 3) Mandate companies
Education. Recruiters want skills, competencies
to partner with relevant “Skilling institutes” or
and preparedness of the young talent for
create where there are none and incentivize
workplaces. Outdated curriculum and obsolete
employees to learn new skills. 5 trillion economy
pedagogies being used in our higher education

”
will be a pipe dream without creating relevant
are not delivering desired skills among degree
new age skills at scale.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 41

 our students through cutting – edge courses,
Dr. Priya R. Swaminarayan research, industry relevant activities and fulfilling
Dean - Faculty of IT & CS the demand by providing quality students.
Professor & Director - PIET - MCA Wheebox Employability Skill Test (WEST)
Principal - BCA - Parul Institute of measures the ability and skills of Students in the
area Aptitude, Behavioral and Domain Knowledge
Computer Application and helps the educators for bridging the gaps
Parul University, Vadodara between Academia and Industry. RK University is
conducting Wheebox Test from last three years

“
and finding continuous improvement in results of
I would like to congratulate Wheebox and the students and quality of test which also helpful to
entire India Skills Report Team for publishing students in their final placement campus. We look
India Skills Report and for reaching over 3,10,000 forward to have such more reports for continuous

”
students across 28 States, 9 Union Territories & improvement in the field of education for the
100+ employers. Wheebox helps recruiters for betterment of society.
finding best talent using validated, reliable and
standardized test for pre-hiring and learning
needs assessments. I am sure that the India Skills
Report will also be helpful to higher educational
institutions for revision of their curriculum based Dr. Harsh Purohit
on the requirement of Global Industries and

”
current trends of Industries. Dean, FMS-WISDOM and Law
Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan

“
Rekha Sethi
Wheebox National Employability Test has
Director General
grown in popularity as the stakeholders get to
AIMA understand the merit of testing the students on
all desired parameters. The Wheebox Team has
been working relentlessly to promote learning,
testing and skill enhancement which positively

“
contribute to the employability and therefore in
Doubling the economy in five years demands interest of the nation. At Banasthali Vidyapith, the
an exponential increase in quantity and quality world’s largest residential university for women’s
of skilled labour. A digitizing economy requires education nurturing women for leadership
everyone to work with digital technologies and roles since 1935, we believe that Education,
business models. A basic proficiency in using Employment and Empowerment have a strong
mobile, cloud, internet platforms, robotics and AI connect and delighted to partner with Wheebox
is required by all. India has a lot of catching up to in bringing out The India Skills Report 2020. It is
do in that respect. wonderful to note that over the time, thousands
of girl students from Banasthali have participated
Employability is a function of employers’

”
in the Wheebox test and we wish all the success
investment in training the existing & the to Wheebox in future endeavors.
prospective employees. This is particularly true
at a time when business technologies & methods
are undergoing fundamental change. The biggest

”
challenge is to get employers & employees to
invest in continuous learning. Anil Sachdev
Founder and CEO,
School of Inspired Leadership
(SOIL) India
Prof. (Dr.) Vishal Y. Doshi
Head Training & Associate

“
Professor, IIIC Coordinator
RK University, Rajkot Our Higher Education System needs to be
reimagined. We need to develop students
who develop their capacity to learn through

“
introspection, reflection and source the child
like curiosity within themselves to acquire the
RK University is a place where “Change” happens.
skills needed for the new world. Even as we learn
Our students are challenged and motivated to
how to deploy artificial intelligence, robotics and
change their perspectives towards education by
machine learning and embrace the power of big
our faculties. Our faculties constantly change
data and digital, we have to develop empathy,
their teaching pedagogies and instructional
and mindfulness so that our students think
approaches to match industry requirements
holistically and work to make our world better.
and student needs. RKU feels privileged to
We need to free our higher education system of
be partner with Wheebox by contributing in
all controls and make this sector attractive for
the development of “India Skill Report 2020”.
investments by the world’s best universities. India
RKU focus on transformational experience of

”
will never become a developed country unless we
completely reform higher education.
42 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020
INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 43
 and equipment manufacturing area etc. Between
them they capture almost 90% of the entry level job
roles. Accepted by industry across power utilities,
they represent standard occupations and skilling
benchmarks. Going further, PSSC developed
standardized learning resources suitably aligned to
applicable QP/NOS along with the Trainer’s Guide,
Assessment and Certification tools etc. It then rolls
out the skill development initiatives in partnership with
the credible training providers. This is followed by third
party assessment of trainees and then their certification
by Power Sector Skill Council, subject to participants
qualifying to a threshold level. While on the one hand
this ensures standardisation of skilling processes and its
delivery, on the other, it facilitates industry’s acceptance
helping them with improved availability of readily
employable workforce.

WORKFORCE COMPOSITION AND

CHALLENGES

The current manpower in organized segment of power

sector, covering generation, transmission & distribution
stands as nearly 16 lakhs with replenishment happening
Shri Vinod Behari, at a rate of approximately 20% to make good the
separation on account of mid-career changes,
Chief Executive Officer retirements etc. While at Senior Managerial level,
Power Sector Skill Council market forces take care of demand and supply numbers
being limited, the real challenge lies at the bottom of
pyramid where volumes are high, skilling standards and
qualities remain uncertain as also general reluctance of
GENESIS AND ROLE employers to invest in skilling, which eventually impact
the quality of workforce apart from their exposure to
Power Sector Skill Council has been set up primarily hazards and unsafe operations. Also, the employment
with an objective of working towards availability of skill- landscape in power sector has been getting fairly
trained and certified workforce for the major job roles
in power sector. This is an industry led and industry
focussed body which reflect the priorities of the sector
and brings together various stakeholders to achieve
its objectives. Having been promoted by Ministry of
Power, Govt. Of India, Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE), Govt. Of India and Indian Electrical
and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA),
PSSC has representations from across the sector with
all major Stakeholders on board. It has thus been an
industry and employer driven initiative designed to help
them with improved availability of readily employable
and skilled workforce through a robust process
of standardization of occupational standards, skill
development, assessment and certification. The area of
its operation includes, power generation, transmission,
distribution, downstream operations, renewable energy
and power equipment manufacturing.

In order to deliver of its mandate, Power Sector Skill

Council has taken a range of initiatives. It has developed
Qualification Packs/National Occupational Standards
(QP/NOS) with reference to major job roles in power
sector, which have high employment potential. These
QP/NOS map very extensively the job deliverables and
performance criterion that the job holder is required
to deliver and further align them with appropriate skill
sets, competencies and specific Knowledge inputs
needed for the same, standardising them across the
utilities, which affords them a national character.

PSSC have so far developed QP/NOS with reference

to thirty five major job roles across power generation,
transmission, distribution, downstream operations

44 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

complex with infusion of large-scale contract and
outsourced workforce. This renders it very difficult to
assess precisely the exact demand and supply short fall
of skilled workforce and then going forward to ensure
their adequate skilling preparedness, as a pre-condition
to employment.

SKILL GAPS AND SECTORAL NEEDS

Based on the initial skill gap survey conducted by PSSC

and also drawing upon the analysis & projections of
Central Electricity Authority, the expected demand
supply gap covering diverse activities such as operation
& maintenance, EPC and project construction
requirements as also downstream operations such
as street lighting and domestic solutions etc., the
expected incremental requirements for 10 years period
ending with the year 2027 will be approximately 16
lakh. This, however, does not include the requirement
in the areas of renewable energy (which is likely to be
of a huge order considering ambitious target of 1.75
lakh MW by the year 2020-22) and power equipment
manufacturing segment, which again are expected to
be huge in numbers.

A major discovery of skill gap survey remains that the

real volume of demand growth lies in downstream
operations which lie significantly in unorganized sector.
As regards the areas in power sector that require
largest skilled trained manpower in the organized
section, power distribution obviously figures on the
top. However, the requirement of skilled workforce in
downstream segments of last mile electricity delivery
system such as street lighting, energy efficiency
projects and varied requirement of consumers for a

range of domestic solutions has been growing very fast

considering the fact that flagships schemes such as
DDUJY, IPDS, SAUBHAGYA etc. and have led to large
scale penetration of electricity of rural and semi-urban
areas including strengthening of distribution and supply
network. The estimated incremental requirement of
skilled workforce in these areas for a period up to the
year 2027 stands at 8 lakh +. Sustained efforts are
therefore required to ensure the availability to skilled
workforce.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN

To deliver on its mandate, the Power Sector Skill council

has been undertaking a wide range of initiatives. It
begins as stated above with development of skilling
standard known as National Occupational Standards
(NOS) with reference to major power sector job roles
with high employment volume. Already, Power Sector
Skill Council had developed NOS with reference to thirty
five major entry level job roles at skilled workman level
& supervisor level, covering between them nearly 80%
of entry level workforce required. Following a defined
protocol, these occupational standards undergo a
process of structured validation by industry followed by
approval by designated authorities. This is followed by

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 45

development of Learning Resources such as Participant a far bigger scale delivering bigger number in response
Handbook (in multiple languages), Trainers’ Guide, to industry requirements.
Question Bank, Training Delivery & Assessment Protocol
etc. Parallely, the task of capacity building goes on that Another long-term activity PSSC proposes to pursue
covers ToT, ToA, Accreditation of Training Providers etc. is to facilitate net export of skill-trained workforce in
power sector to countries abroad taking advantage
The skill development program is rolled out thereafter of its demographic dividend and younger population
in partnership of credible training providers followed by profile.
third party assessment by capable assessment agencies
and certification by Power Sector Skill Council leading To that end, PSSC plans to align its QP/NOS to global
to appropriate job placement in wage employment or standards applicable in those countries abroad, with a
self-employment category. view to facilitate customized training and a targeted job
placement abroad. Initially, it plans to begin with SAARC
Preparation completed by PSSC thus far include countries in its immediate neighborhood, where skilling
readiness of a robust 1800+ certified Trainers across needs and standards are expected to be comparable to
multiple job roles, 800+ certified Assessors, developing that of India.
learning resources (including text books for participants,
Trainers & Assessors Manuals, delivery protocol, films & UPCOMING INITIATIVES
audio-visual teaching aids etc.) in 30+ job roles across
twelve languages. Power Sector Skill Council has in past responded to
some of the major skilling challenges thereby supporting
During the last four years of its operation, PSSC skill- mega socio reform initiative of government. One such
trained and certified approx. 120000 workforce initiative related to facilitating the drive of Universal
across power sector largely in distribution area. This Household Electrification announced by Govt. of India
was in initial years of operation when PSSC had been in the area of 2017 thus allowing access to electricity
confronted with several challenges and limitations. for backlog unelectrified households. The target of
Having overcome them to a large extent now, PSSC Universal Household Electrification remained huge. The
looks forward to deliver the far bigger number in the Govt. of India, therefore, launched the scheme “Pradhan
days to come. As regards, long term approach, it will be Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana” (SAUBHAGYA).
dealing with the issue of skilled workforce availability on The scheme aimed at ensuring delivery of electricity

46 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

to every household as a means of transforming their accelerate the pace of project delivery and to complete
socio-economic and educational status. One of the it in a time bound manner. This initiative of Power
challenges that confronted successful implementation Sector Skill Council targets to train and certify nearly
of scheme related to availability of skill trained and 1.4 lakh workforce both fresh, leading to generation
certified workforce who would enable implementation of employment (almost 50%) and as mid-career
of the scheme at ground level across the remote and far upskilling intervention for workforce already deployed.
flung rural areas. It is expected to significantly accelerate the process of
railway electrification in the larger national interest.
Power Sector Skill Council rose to the occasion. Having
made nationwide preparation, it launched the mega Another, upcoming project relates to a demand driven
initiative known as SAUBHAGYA Skilling Initiative implementation of training on power sector job roles at
targeting focused states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, ten selected ITI’s in the state of Bihar in response to the
Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. PSSC needs of skilled workforce in the state.
developed a customized Qualification Pack (Lineman
Distribution – Multi skilled) and used another existing Demand Aggregation carried by Power Sector Skill
one Technical Helper – Power Distribution. It took Council reveals requirement of about 10,000+ trained
extensive measures and trained approx. thirty thousand and certified workforce across multiple job roles,
workforce, under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana largely in Power Distribution area which is planned
(PMKVY), who along with others implemented in the to be met through this unique initiative i.e. Bihar ITI
task of ensuring household access to Electricity, thus Skill Development Project, thus ensuring assured job
facilitating successful implementation of the scheme. placement to the qualifying ITI graduates.

The upcoming initiative include Railway Electrification EMERGING AREAS AND CHALLENGES
Skilling Initiative which Power Sector Skill Council is
about to launch, targeting skill training and certification Electricity Distribution and downstream operations
of 1.4 lakh workforce to be deployed on ambitious covering energy efficiency projects such as Street
railway electrification project. It may be recalled that Lighting and wide range of domestic solutions are the
Railway have ambitious plan of electrification of areas where requirements are likely to be huge in the
railway track in next to 2 – 3 years’ time which needs coming years. They would obviously form a priority
deploying of huge trained and certified workforce to for PSSC in its efforts to ensure skill development and

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 47

employability enhancement. However, lack of formal bodies, Municipal Corporation, trader’s association
skilling standard coupled with absence of supportive etc., in addition to organized players such as power
eco system has been severe limiting factors. Skilled utilities, equipment manufacturers etc. All in all it has
workmen in our country do not enjoy good social been working towards developing a supportive eco
recognition. Consequently, skilling has low aspirational system taking multiple stake holders on board which
value for youth. An electrician or plumber always will hopefully enable it address the gigantic challenges
figures low in the social strata vis-à-vis an Engineer of skill development. Difficulties notwithstanding,
or MBA irrespective of contribution to the society or future indeed holds brighter hopes and PSSC remains
industry, which proves a daunting challenge in the committed to making most of it in the larger national
matter of sourcing, even though opportunities exist. and social interest.

Financing skilling initiatives of course remains the

biggest challenge. Industry going in for flexi manning
solutions, with reducing number of regular and
permanent workforce, employers general reluctance to
invest in skilling, multi layering of employment contract
thus rendering the real employer somewhat invisible,
candidates not being able to afford the skilling cost,
very limited CSR funds finding their way into skill
development are among other challenges.

PSSC have been addressing them, building robust

partnership with various stake holders including industry

48 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 49
JOBS OUTLOOK 2020 increasingly being automated using technologies like
Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
The key emerging digital technologies are creating
Increasing globalization, demographic changes, new arrangements for labour market called the ‘gig-
emerging technologies, regulatory framework and economy’. The gigs-based work model is moving the
geopolitical scenario will significantly influence India’s work beyond the corporate boundaries in terms of short,
job landscape in the coming years. With initiatives such flexible, part-time work. All these changes certainly
as Skill India or efforts in the direction of investing pose an increased threat of workforce replacement.
in infrastructural changes, ramping up of micro-
entrepreneurship models and boosting the start-up It is, therefore, necessary that India Inc. identifies and
ecosystem, the Government of India is clearly laying understands the changing job landscape and the
out signs that it is up for re-inventing the business case emerging, new roles due to these disruptions. Further,
for India. it needs to look at the skills that its workforce currently
possesses and the skills that it will need in the future
In addition, the rapidly changing technology so that leaders can devise solutions to develop these
environment is reshaping entire organizational new skills. Most importantly, the knowledge temples
structures and operations. It has led to the rise of new of the country – schools, colleges, training institutes,
business models disrupting the incumbents, altered vocational study centres, among others – need to be
customer behaviour, reformed service delivery methods reformed to build a solid foundation of knowledge,
and operations, and most importantly, it has changed skills and attitude.
the way people work. Some striking examples that
instantly come to the mind are Swiggy, OYO, BigBasket, It is observed that despite a huge population of
Ola and Lenskart, the brands which have revolutionized energetic youth in the country today, the industry
the entire business ecosystem. is complaining of scarce talent. To understand this
problem better and answer what can be done, we
As we head towards a knowledge-driven and tech- conducted an online survey, the India Hiring Intent
enabled workplace, repetitive and low-skilled jobs are 2020, with more than 150 employers, across 9 industries

50 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

to understand their challenges in hiring the candidates E-Commerce (Internet Business) 55-60%
they want. The leaders also shared their views on the
kind of roles/skills the organizations would seek in their Banking & Financial Services
prospective employees, where do they plan to hire & Insurance (BFSI) 30-35%
and what channels would they prefer to reach out to
candidates. So, here we present the India Hiring Intent Software, Hardware & IT 8-12%
2020 survey results.
BPO, KPO & ITeS 20-30%
POSITIVE HIRING OUTLOOK DESPITE THE
SLUGGISH ECONOMY
Automotive (Auto & Auto Components) 3-5%

56% of the Industry employers in the 2020 survey,

reported a positive outlook on hiring and about 28% Manufacturing 0-5%
maintained the status quo. The figures, however,
dropped this year as compared to 2019, where 64% of Pharma & Healthcare 10%
respondents reflected a positive intent while 25% of
respondents mentioned they do not intent to increase
Telecom & Allied 4-8%
to decrese their hiring state. The decline is largely
attributed to the slowdown in various industries across
the economy. For example, the automobile industry Others & Diversified 0-5%
witnessed a dip in sales and production, the growth
of the manufacturing sector has been sluggish and
banking and non-banking entities faced heat with an
increase in disclosures of non-performing assets. 67% of smaller organizations with employee strength
ranging from 0-500 and 58% of employees with
employee strength between 501-1000 employees
indicate a positive hiring intent. However, the hiring

56% of employers expressed a

positive hiring intent for 2020
intent has considerably remained same as last year for
companies with employees >5000.

67%
56% 16% 28%
of smaller organizations
show a positive hiring intent
2020

17% 58% 25%

64% 11% 25%
501-1000
2019

17% 50% 33%

5001+

Positive hiring intent Negative hiring intent

Unchanged hiring intent 20% 53% 27%

1001-5000
ON A HIRING SPREE – E-COMMERCE AND
BFSI TO BE THE JOB-CREATION ENGINE
17% 67% 17%

The industries which are expected to ramp up hiring 0-500

the most are E-commerce and BFSI. Leaders in the
E-commerce sector expects hiring to swing up by
around 55-60%, while an uptrend of 30-35% is expected Positive hiring intent Negative hiring intent
by leaders in the BFSI sector. A strong example of the
Unchanged hiring intent
hiring upswing mentioned for E-commerce above is the
recent announcement made by Swiggy who is aiming
to become one of the biggest employers in the country
by adding 3 lakh employees to its workforce. Further, WHO IS GETTING HIRED?
India’s sunshine sector, IT along with ITeS, BPO and KPO
would be a promising growth engine for job creation in Hiring Intent By Work Experience
2020 as well.
Yet again this year, mostly the candidates with 1-5
Hiring Intent By Company Size years of experience are in demand and are sought
by over 40% employers across industries. While the
With respect to company size, the survey reveals that overall hiring is expected to increase, the demand for

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 51

freshers has been declining, amounting to only 15% of Taking a look at the sectoral results revealed that
the demands pool this year, which has been the lowest freshers hold about a quarter of demand coming from
in the past 3 years. This can be attributed to the fact the BPO, KPO and ITeS, and BFSI industries’ employers.
that industries are adopting new technologies and This is quite evident from the recruitment process of
transforming their operations and thus, are looking for various banks, which are known to run their training
professionals with a few years of corporate experience. programs wherein they hire a large number of freshers,
Further, a quarter of demand is held by candidates with train them extensively and then place them across the
6-10 years of experience. organization.

Further, looking at the preference for hiring 1-5 years

experienced candidates who are in most demand,
Candidates with 1-5 are from ITes, BPO, KPO industry followed by
Pharmaceuticals (more than half of the demand pool).
41%
years of experience in
maximum demand, Hiring Intent By Education Domain
freshers only form
35% Engineers are expected to be hired the most (31%),
15% of demand pool closely followed by general graduates such as BCA,
BBA, B.Com, BSC (25%). The overall demand for
2019
engineers has increased from last year by around 10%.
28% 28% Additionally this year, there is increase in demand for
2020 MBA and post-graduate students as compared to

19% Engineering & Graduates are high in demand

15% 12% 8%
3%
23% 3%
31%
11% 10% 12%
13%

7% 6% 2019 7%
2020
22% 17%
11%
25%
13%
Freshers 1-5 Years 6-10 Years 11-15 Years Over 15 Years
Undergraduates ITI Polytechnic Post Graduates
13%
Managment Post Graduates Graduates Engineering
Telecom & Allied
9% 46% 22% 16% 7% previous year. In contrast to last year, the demand for
Industrial Training Institute (ITI) and polytechnic pass-
IT
outs has dropped significantly.
16% 38% 29% 12% 6% Upon analysis of the demand outlook posted by various
Pharma & Healthcare industries, it has been noted that engineers are preferred
28% 6% 5%
over a wide range of industries – automotive (auto
11% 50%
and auto components), manufacturing, core sector, IT
Others & Diversified and telecom forming more than 50% of demand pool.
14% 40% 19% 21% 5%
Manufacturing HIRING INTENT BY EMPLOYEE EDUCATION
(SECTOR-WISE)
15% 36% 32% 11% 6%
Internet Business Telecom & Allied
14% 36% 28% 14% 7% IT
Core Sector Pharma & Healthcare
1% 65% 20% 14% 1% Other & Diversified
Manufacturing
BPO, KPO & ITeS
Internet Business
26% 52% 14% 6% 2%
Core Sector
BFSI BPO, KPO & ITeS
23% 47% 17% 9% 5% BFSI
Automotive Automotive
10% 21% 51% 12% 6% 0 20 40 60 80 100
Undergraduates Graduates ITI Polytechnic Post Graduates
Freshers 1-5 Years 6-10 Years 11-15 Years Over
15 Years Management Post Graduation Engineering

52 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Similarly, graduates (BA/B. Com/BSc etc.) form a large UPCOMING NEW SKILLS/JOBS (SECTOR-WISE)
part (>50%) of the demand rising from the Pharma,
BPO, KPO and ITeS industries. Telecom & Allied 2.8 3.0 2.8 3.2 3.4 2.6 2.2 1.8

IT 3.2 2.6 2.8 3.4 3.6 3.4 3.6 1.6

WHAT IS GETTING HIRED?
Pharma & Healthcare 3.3 3.2 2.3 2.5 3.3 3.2 3.5 2.0
Positive Attitude And Soft Skills Are Must-Have Other & Diversified 2.7 3.5 2.3 3.3 3.3 3.0 2.5 1.8

Manufacturing 3.0 2.8 2.2 3.8 3.3 3.0 3.5 2.8

When asked about the skills that employers seek while
hiring, all employers explicitly mentioned the requisite Internet Business 2.8 3.3 3.5 3.5 3.3 2.0 2.7 2.5
of a ‘positive attitude’ in the candidate, with the sense Core Sector 3.5 3.0 2.5 3.5 3.5 3.0 2.0 2.5
that a candidate with a positive outlook towards job and
BPO, KPO & ITeS 2.8 2.8 3.5 3.0 3.3 3.0 2.5 2.0
learning is more likely to do better in her/his professional
career than her/his counterparts. The unanimous voice of BFSI 3.3 3.7 3.0 3.2 3.8 2.7 3.2 2.0
HR experts as per discussions during the Decoding Jobs Automotive 2.8 3.0 2.3 3.5 2.5 2.3 2.0 1.7
2019 – The Think Tank Roundtable Series also placed a
lot of importance on the attitude of candidates (further 0 5 10 15 20 25
qualitative findings of the discussions held during the
Compliance Social Media Marketing Front-End Web Development
Decoding Jobs 2019 – The Think Tank Roundtable Series
Data Analyst & Scientist Soft Skills Others
are mentioned in subsequent sections of this report).
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Human Centered Design
Scale: 4 = Certainly & 0 = Not at all certain
Employers mentioned •
•
Positive Attitude
Adaptibility

top5 Preffered •
•
Learning Agility
Domain Expertise power, steel), manufacturing and e-commerce (rating
• Interpersonal Skills
Skills in a candidate >3.5 on a scale of 4). Similarly, Human-centred design
is given quite an emphasis from manufacturing, pharma
while hiring and IT sector employees (>3.5). We also observe the
spread of RPA use cases within various industries with
eight industries in our survey rating it above 3 in future.
Apart from a positive attitude, domain knowledge and
adaptability were also highly sought-after qualities in a SATISFACTION WITH THE TALENT HIRED
candidate. These qualities were rated the same across
the industries surveyed. When asked what the employers felt about the quality
of talent available in the market, 57% of respondents
Upcoming New Skills felt that only “some or very few” of the job seekers
satisfy their skills requirements. A large proportion of
The survey also laid importance on the skill areas that employers, however, is still not very confident about the
the employers foresee as up and coming in the next quality of talent saying “some” job seekers could satisfy
5 years in their organizations. Employers cited the
increasing role of data science and analysis, and social
media marketing in the coming five years in the industry. HOW MANY JOB SEEKERS WERE ABLE TO SATISFY
This is due to the ever-increasing role of advanced THE SKILL REQUIREMENT OF YOUR COMPANY?
technologies, impacting functions across the value
chain. Industries are embracing technologies in every
possible area to improve customer experience and drive 4%

Emerging job areas/skills

in next 5 years
• Data Science & Analysis
53%
• Digital Marketing of employeers feel
• Robotics Process Automation 53% that some job seekers 42%
• Human Centered Design satisfy their requirement
• Compliance
Most Job Seekers Nearly All Job Seekers
Some Job Seekers
efficiencies and effectiveness in their operations. Banks Very Few Job Seekers
using chatbots, manufacturing deploying robots, and
pharma and healthcare exploring AI are some examples
that highlight the changing landscape of the workplace
1%
across industries.
Further, upon deep diving into the sectors’ perspective
on the emerging areas that they would want candidates
to hone their skills for soft skills were said to be
important by everyone in one voice. their job demands. The trend was reflected across all
sectors, except e-commerce and pharma companies
Data analysis skills were found to be the most important wherein about 70% said that “most” candidates satisfy
by the employers from automotive and core (oil & gas, their requirements.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 53

Women Participation Still A Concern

Furthermore, the survey highlights that the participation

of women in work is even less than a quarter. The
results have further dropped as compared to last year.
The sectors where the women contribution is lowest
include automotive, core sectors with less than 10%
contribution rate. BPO, KPO and ITeS, IT and BFSI show
a participation rate of about 30% or above. The stark
differences in the figures suggest that knowledge-
based work and organisations see more women
participation as compared to sectors which are more
labour-driven. Thus, industry and government, together,
need to lay more emphasis on programmes that aim to
involve more women in blue-collared jobs and provide
more empowerment to them. Various aspects where
the policies/initiatives can focus on including women
security, childcare services, gender equality, creating
awareness among people, breaking the orthodox
mindset which confines women to childcare and
house care.

Gender parity
a concern at 71:29 (M:F Ratio)

75%
71%

29%
25%

2019 2020

GENDER DIVERSITY BY SECTOR

Telecom & Allied 86% 14%

IT 72% 28%

Pharma & Healthcare 89% 11%

Other & Diversified 76% 24%

Manufacturing 74% 26%

Internet Business 78% 22%

Core Sector 93% 7%

BPO, KPO & ITeS 64% 36%

BFSI 70% 30%

Automotive 90% 10%

0 20 40 60 80 100
Male Female

54 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Speaking in the global context of women’s employment,
India is one of the lowest-ranked countries in the world.
Three in four Indian women do not work, which is quite
a concern. The employers and the government alike
realize the gravity of the problem, however, adequate
policies and initiatives are still not in place to make
the working environment, conducive for women.
This requires coordinated effort from both entities to
encourage more women to participate in all areas of
work and across hierarchies in the organizations.

PERCENTAGE HIRES BY EMPLOYMENT TYPE

4%

18% About

80%
of the workforce constituted
by permanent employees
while gigs stand at

13%
Permanent Contractual
Apprectinces

78%

PREFERRED EMPLOYEE TYPE

Telecom & Allied 90% 6% 4%

IT 90% 6% 4%
Pharma & Healthcare 71% 24% 5%

Other & Diversified 73% 25% 2%

Manufacturing 70% 25% 5%

Internet Business 76% 19% 5%

Core Sector 65% 22% 13%

BPO, KPO & ITeS 90% 9% 1%

BFSI 96% 2%2%

Automotive 55% 35% 10%

0 20 40 60 80 100

Permanent Hires Contractual Apprentice

EMPLOYERS PREFER PERMANENCE OVER

SHORT-TERM ENGAGEMENTS

The automotive sector witnessed a larger chunk of

employees in contractual roles, about 35%, as compared
to 55% permanent hires. Following the suit, are Pharma
and Manufacturing companies where the share of
contractual employees is about 25% of the workforce.
Interestingly, employers cite the role of gigs in sectors
like e-commerce and manufacturing where about 20%
of work is supported by gigs. This human workforce
arrangement is slowly picking up momentum and is

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 55

slated to become one of the most vital aspects of future and social media stand out as the most preferred way to
work, especially in the start-ups where job requirements reach out to candidates. It is interesting to note that this
are mostly need-based. The arrangement particularly year the preference rating was spread almost equally
encourages women to contribute to the organization amongst all the channels except job fairs and direct
and ultimately, the nation’s overall workforce. walk-in, referring to the omnipresence of recruiters.

FROM WHERE THEY ARE GETTING HIRED? HIRING GIG WORKFORCE

13%
Accessing The Talent Pool

The recruiters use a wide mix of channels to get to

Overall
the candidates and select the best ones that are most
suitable for their organizations. In the current scenario, of the Gig workforce
internal referrals, job portals, professional networking
across all industries
HIRING BY SOURCE CHANNEL

HIRING BY CITY
Increasing Employement opportunities in

Tier 2 & 3 cities

Consultants Campus hire Internal Referral due to incresing gig workforce
16% 14% 10% 11% 19% 14% 50%

31%

Professional Company websites Job Portals

Networking 6% 10% 28% 21% 17%
& Social Media
8% 15%

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

Apprenticeship And Their Participation At Work

Job Fairs Direct walk-in Others According to respondents, corporates recruit any
2% 4% 8% 9% 3% 4% individual as part of a government-initiated skill
development mission or have an existing employee
2019 2020
coming from such initiatives e.g. PMKVY, SANKALP,
National Apprentice Promotion Scheme. A little over half
Job portals, Internal referrals, professional of the corporates said “yes” to the question with a vast
majority reflecting happiness with the candidates’ skills.
networking and social media remain The recruitment rate from these programs suggests that
most used channels to find there is still a large scope to include more candidates.
candidates The government might need to introspect what can be
done better to fill in the cracks. Industries as well, can
come together to better train the candidates and carry
HIRING BY GEOGRAPHY
out improved recruitment processes for them.

Nearly 50%
employers recruit through
government-initiated programs as well and
Top are happy with the skills of the candidate

5 states
from where maximum hiring to be done
48% 8%

Individual
Recruitment matching
Tamil Nadu through expectation
government- recruited through
Karnataka initiated govt. initiated
programmes programmes
Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh
52% 92%
Delhi

Yes No

56 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 57
To further strengthen the findings of the talent demand
and supply gap, several focus group discussions
were conducted by PeopleStrong’s recruitment
business Taggd and assessment business Wheebox, in
collaboration with CII. These ‘Think Tank Roundtable’
discussions were held with more than 200 senior
industry leaders across major metro cities in the country
– including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai
– between August to November 2019.

The outcomes of the very engaging and insightful

discussions helped in qualifying the quantitative
indicators of the talent demand and supply gap existing
in the country mentioned in the India Skills Report 2020.
These outcomes stressed upon qualitative measures
that can be taken to bridge this gap. One of the chief
highlights was the need for concerted efforts between Mumbai Chapter 13th Aug 2019 | The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
the government, industry and academia to address one
of the most pressing concerns facing our nation today:

‘The Think Tank Series’

discussions were held with
more than 200 senior industry
leaders across major metro
cities in the country – including
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru
and Chennai – between August Chennai Chapter 4th Sept 2019 | Taj Coromondel, Chennai

to November 2019
In the backdrop of increasing globalization and the
exponential impact of technological advancements in
almost every sphere of life as well as across business
industries, the talent demand-supply scenario speaks
for urgent attention required to upgrade India’s existing
skills ecosystem starting right from secondary school
until mandatory on-the-job training for the first 2 to 3
years of professional career.

Delhi Chapter 6th Nov 2019 | The Taj Palace, New Delhi

THE ‘ASK’ FROM INDIA’S SKILLING SECTOR

– WHAT IS HOLDING THE INDIA INC. BACK?

In the open discussions held with the industry thought

leaders and hiring experts, following key challenges
and their underlying reasons came to the fore:

Bangalore Chapter 30th July 2019 | Taj West End, Bangalore

58 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

ATTITUDE SKILLING AND KNOWLEDGE

Preference for select specialization Questionable quality of education: One of

courses/degrees: A large share of India’s the chief concerns of the skilling sector in
current working population chose ‘safe India has been the quality of skilling and
courses’ like engineering (BTech/BE), education at India’s academic institutions.
management (MBA/BBA), medical It is ironic for a country like India – where
(BDS/MBBS), etc., driven by parents’ people place the highest value in quality
expectations and influence. This was because of the of education and emphasize enrollment
prevalent opinion about these subject areas having a of their children in top skilling institutions – that no
steady job availability with a good salary. While the Indian varsity could make it in the top 100 universities
trend has gradually started shifting towards newer list by ‘Times Higher Education World Reputation
courses over the past few years, the maximum focus Rankings 2019’.
among the specialized universities in India continues to
be towards technical courses. Obsolete curriculum at institutions:
While the curriculum being taught
Pursuing paycheck over true passion: at schools are dated, skills education
When choosing a professional course in schools or graduation courses at
at the time of setting out on their colleges / universities lack the connect
professional journeys, most students / with industry and market usage. It is
graduates face the dilemma of focusing critical for our school and college curriculum to keep
more on income from conventionally pace with the fast-changing job marketplace with
stable jobs over what they really would wish to pursue technological advancement and globalization. However,
in their professional careers. A 2015 survey by online most institutions review their curriculum and skilling
job portal, Monster said that about half the respondents programs often without considering the contemporary
admitted that they had a job that did not meet their requirements of industries. For instance, AICTE has
true passion and about one third of the remaining revised the curriculum for engineering and technical
half admitted that they were working for a good pay- courses (2018-19 onwards) and has also included
scale and not their passion. In such cases, it has been mandatory internship courses, social and industrial, to
observed that many people start to lose interest in help students connect with industry requirements. This
their jobs, resulting in lower productivity and low to no revamping is being done after seven long years in the
willingness for upskilling. wake of industry shouting for lack of knowledge and
skills. The benefits of this revision are yet to be realized
Inclination towards ‘White Collar’ jobs: but other courses should also be given a thought on
Unlike other successful economies like these lines.
the US or China, the Indian job market
did not move gradually from primary
(agrarian) to secondary (industrial) and
then to the tertiary (services) sector.
The rapid jump to tertiary sector jobs
and related rise in renumerations during the late 1990s
and early 2000s led people to think rather highly of
white-collared jobs than blue-collared, leaving people
to find the latter less dignifying. As a result, many fresh
graduates have faced unemployment because they
wish to start their career with a white-collared job and a
comparatively higher pay packet, even if they may lack
the relevant skills.

Millennial ‘job hopping’ behavior: India

is home to one of the largest millennial
populaces in the world and as a result,
job preferences and attitudes are
largely driven by millennial demands
and expectations. Millennial workers
have been subject to several studies and some of the
key patterns observed in their behavior have raised
concerns among the employer communities. While they
want challenging jobs and almost despise monotonous
job roles as they tend to get bored with similar work,
a report has brought out the fact that on average,
they stay within a given role for a maximum of three
years, resulting them in gaining half-baked skills and
experience that employers would desire. There is a high
attrition rate among the millennial workforce, therefore,
earning them the title of ‘job hoppers’.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 59

Acting on this above need, The Ministry of Human SOCIETAL AND POLICY-RELATED CONCERNS
Resource and Development (HRD) department along
with the University Grant Commission (UGC) organized Alarmingly low participation of women
the National Conference of Vice-Chancellors and in the workforce: One of the prime factors
Directors on Research and Innovation, from July 26 that has upset the equilibrium of the
to 28, 2018, where Research & Innovation in Higher talent demand and supply in India is that
Education was discussed. Taking a cue from conference, women have been constantly leaving the
the UGC has decided to improve higher education job market over the past years. As per
by revamping the curriculum. One of the resolutions International Labour Organization (ILO), the percentage
which adopted was to ‘Adopt and implement Learning share of female participation in the workforce fell
Outcome Based Curriculum Framework (LOCF) in HEIs from nearly 34% in 1999-2000 to about 27% in 2011-
at the conference. This would allow the UGC to update 12, reaching a historic low of about 23% in 2017-18 as
the curriculum from academic year 2019-20. per the World Bank. Indian societal stereotypes fixate
household and childcare as primary responsibilities of
Lack of focus on practical/life-skills: women and discourage any serious career opportunities
The skills imparted at most academic for them. Additionally, in organizations, low female
institutions are not relevant to prepare representation towards the top of the ladder, fewer
a candidate for a job. Most higher- training and learning opportunities, dissatisfactory
level education institutions have salary and maternity benefits, lack of stringent policies
been providing degrees to students for safety and concerns around flexible work timings
without focusing much on imparting have been further pressing women to move out of the
specialized skill sets. A study by Mettle shows that less workspace.

“
than 5% engineers have the analytical skills necessary
for software engineering jobs in product startups.
Employers complain that many graduates they hire are In a growing population, where women constitute
deficient in basic skills such as writing, problem solving 50% of the total size, Upskilling women as a
and critical thinking that college leaders and their priority agenda could change the paradigm not
faculties consistently rank among the most important just for the women, but for the society, because
goals of an undergraduate education. Additionally, with every woman who gets empowered, there
Indian schools have been inclined to focus more on is an associated family that gets empowered and
theoretical knowledge and scoring, overlooking the influenced. Upskilling as a need in India is the
aspects of imparting necessary life-skills to students bridge between India’s demographic dividend,
right at the primary/secondary levels. As per the findings demographic nightmare and crossing it, is not
of the Pratham Annual Status of Education (ASER) 2017 an option but a burning need. However, the
report, only 40% 14-18-year-olds can calculate the price magnanimity of the problem requires change in
of a shirt sold at a 10% discount and less than 60% can the social fabric and by empowering and skilling
read time from an analog clock. women, we could just be doing that! The path
to Upskilling women, however, would need a
Deficit in reskilling and formal training larger change. Instead of making it an agenda
efforts: There has been a visible gap in for empowering women, it has to be viewed
formal training of graduates because and narrated as an economic agenda. Building
of the prevalent disconnect between societal Commitment to women being skilled, is
the industry and training institutes in not just what the society needs, it’s also what the
India. As opposed to their counterparts economy needs. The demographic dividend and
in the US (52%), UK (68%), Germany the population opportunity of India that we talk
(75%), Japan (80%) and South Korea (96%), a mere about, has 50% of it, women. We are as slow as

”
4.69% of India’s total workforce have received formal the slowest in our teams. If 50% of them are left
skilling, as per Union Ministry of Skill Development and behind, we will not get anywhere.
Entrepreneurship data. Even though businesses are
gradually steering towards re-skilling and/or up-skilling Chaitali Mukherjee
efforts for their employed workforce to keep pace with Partner and Leader, People and Organizations
the changing technological landscape and the arrival PwC India and India Digital Upskilling Leader
of new utility tools, the destination is far and the route
is long. On-the-job re-skilling and up-skilling initiatives
will need more proactive than reactive approach in
order to better-equip the personnel for their altering Asynchronized practices at institutions
roles. A recent NASSCOM report states that about 40% across states: While most of the Indian
of India’s workforce must be reskilled over the next five youth long for global opportunities,
years to cope with emerging trends and shifts in the India’s specialization and vocational
jobs landscape causing many current jobs to become training institutes have not been able
non-existent due to emerging technologies like AI, to impart skills at par with international
IoT, machine learning and blockchain – a fact that the standards. There is also a severe regional
government, corporates and academia, all will need to imbalance in quality of institutions. In the
urgently accommodate. 2017 rankings of the 100 best institutions by the HRD
ministry, 67 are from just eight states. So, not only is

60 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

uniformity of skill education missing across institutions,
but there is also a serious lack of harmonization in
state and central government policies on consistency
and standardization of curriculum, courses, skills
development and institutions. Many institutions lack
proper facilities and faculty, which adds to low quality
of education imparted – one of the main reasons why
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has
closed 1200+ colleges across the country between 2014
and 2019.

Non-governed and non-lucrative

incentive models: With over 20 million
students graduating every year (Source
AISHE Report for 2016) and an increase
in creation of low-paid jobs, India has
been facing a big challenge in terms
of incentive plans and salary models.
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CIME) found
that private sector salary growth in the country in 2018-
19 was the worst in 10 years (since 2009-10), wherein
the percentage share of salaries in total sales revenue of
organizations fell for the first time in seven years. There
has been a shortfall in regulatory efforts to incentivize
the workforce through a favourable model and therefore
the situation has been increasingly pushing talented
youth away from the low-paying jobs market.
THE WAY FORWARD – DISCOVERING THE
Non-availability of a unified, information MEANS TO INCREASING EMPLOYMENT
exchange platform: Presently, India is OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA
experiencing a massive skill gap where
65-75% of the 15 million youngsters The world has moved towards a knowledge-based
entering the workforce every year are economy and developing cognitive skills among
either found unemployable or still not employees has never been more integral to growth both
ready for jobs. The situation is made for employment of youth and the business sector. This
worse with no information or data available to skill growth engine can be propelled only with concerted
seekers on what courses are available, which ones efforts from all – the academia, the industry and the
are being most valued by employers, what is the government.
average salary expectation for a specific job role, etc.
While there is a plethora of blogs/ job portals on the • Establishing a universal platform for delivery of
internet, there are hardly any actionable insights from real-time data and insights on jobs and talent to all
a credible source available for candidates to be able to stakeholders from corporates to skills councils and
understand the market in depth and prepare for their candidates can be one of the many high priority
next opportunity accordingly. initiatives for the government. The platform may
bring all employment (organized and unorganized)
/training opportunities from the industry, skills data
from academia, sector skills council, and government
sponsorships and incentives at one place.

• Promoting online learning is one of the biggest

innovations which is helping Indian youth learn and
develop skills. Standardization of compensation for
each job role and incentivizing the companies that
create mass employment opportunities can be other
significant steps taken by decision making authorities.

• What is also crucial is to build awareness about

restrictive stereotypes and supportive programs
through nationwide communication campaigns.

• India is in an absolute need of more women in the

workforce and hence, the country’s administration
must develop programs that ensure their retention
and reskilling in the industry. Can the Government
severely incentivize and protect organizations

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 61

 employing a 100% woman workforce? The skills and improved apprenticeship / internship programs for
talent landscape in India as well as India’s economic fresh graduates. Businesses will need to work in tandem
story will boom only when the Indian woman becomes with academic institutions and government bodies to
central (and equal to a man) in a household’s economic co-create practical, life-skill based curriculum, co-
growth and prosperity. fund infrastructure with high-end facilities for quality
education and skill development of the students. Also,
• Above all else, besides creating a supportive policy to attract and more importantly to retain women in
framework, it is also important for the government workforce, they will need to work together with public
to direct focus towards constant monitoring and forums to facilitate safety and other benefits such as
controlling the implementation of any programs, creches for working mothers.
policies and activities undertaken by the stakeholders.
Special thanks to the dignitaries in contributing to
The workforce of tomorrow is receiving skills and the Decoding Jobs -The Think Tank series across
knowledge in academic institutions at various levels all major metro cities, including Jaikrishna B,
today. The academia in India needs to own the process Maragatham vijayalakshmi, Srinivasan Elumalai, K V
of keeping pace with the industry requirements and Rajesh, Dr. C Jayakumar, Sambit Acharya, Sanjeev
technological transformations – be it revising and Chaubey , Prabhakar, K U Srinivason, Vijaya Kumar,
creating a learner-driven curriculum or shifting focus Imtiaz Mohamed, Shobana Sharma, Ashok Kumar T,
towards imparting skills that match the needs of Parameshwar Babu, James, Dr K M Suceendran, Chozha
upcoming jobs. They would need to join hands with Naachiar Rajasekar, Sundara Rajan Krishna, Prof.
business thought leaders and enterprises of today Saikthinathan, Mr. Hariharan VS, K U Srinivason, Rajesh
to build the base for a proficient workforce and the Kumar G, Mr. Swapana Namasivayam, Mr. Hussain Sehal,
subject matter experts of tomorrow. Reorientation of T S Ramanujam, Jayaranjan, Vijaya Lakshmi, Damod,
teachers and train-the-trainer programs are going to Muthub Haathi, Abitha, Arunabh Gupta, Komala,
be another key driving agent in this direction. It is also Priyanka Shukla, Vijay Kumar M,Vinod Sreedharan,
vital for academia to acknowledge that while skills and Leetha Prajesh, Dr Abbas Ali , Raghu S R, Sagar L,
knowledge can be trained, attitude related concerns Nirav Jagad, Pramod S. Shah, Sanjay Nair, Vijay Advani,
present a major challenge which can only be resolved V. D. Sanghavi, R.C. Prasad, Sanchayan Bhattacharjee,
at the primary/secondary levels by presenting the true Navin Choudhary, Sayali Mahadik, Ranjit G Manjarekar,
picture of the future of jobs and job market before the Vinod Mathew, Binees Kumar, Rashmi Mansharamani,
next generation of workers. Tapas Dey, Rajat Metha, Komal Ramani, Rahul Gautam,
Charu Bhatt, Sanjiv Nanda, Rena Ahuja, Vineeta Kukreti,
For better productivity and efficiency among the Indrani Ghosh, Monica Mudgal, Vasudhara Srivastava
employed, the industry leaders and corporates and many more.
will need to come to the fore, displaying active
participation in re-skilling and training and creating

62 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 EMPLOYABLE
YOUTH

Industry
Academia

Government

For Academia
For Industry
• Learner driven curriculum in fitment with
upcoming jobs/skills requirement • Co-creating curriculum and supporting
• Developing proper facilities in terms of train-the-trainer programs
laboratories, faculty, books, environment • Channeling CSR funds to skilling
etc. • Providing skills training to freshers and
• Building curriculum which builds the reskilling experienced employees
foundation for appropriate ASK (attitude, • Increasing duration of internship and
skills, knowledge) towards work and career assessing/certifying after completion
• Learn, unlearn and relearn’ should be the • Make jobs more creative & challenging
attitude imbibed in the students right from • Creating a sustainable, inclusive &
the school time equitable employment framework (in
• Making knowledge more practical oriented terms of opportunities, salary, benefits,
rather than theoretical social security and benefits for women)
• Career counseling for students • Frequenting campus visits to let students
• Engage/invite more industry people to have real view of what skills are in
campus demand and providing career counseling
• Focusing on developing entrepreneurial and for students
behavioral skills other than technical skills

For Government
• Creating a central digital platform for
delivery of real-time data and insights on
jobs and talent available
• Co-funded infrastructure to be built for
better education & job-fulfillment
• Standardized compensation for each job
role
• Incentivization for companies who are
• Nationwide communication campaigns to
creating mass jobs and for organizations
build awareness of Government initiatives
with a 100%-woman workforce
INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 63
 INDUSTRY LEADERS
SPEAK

and this momentum must be sustained by

supporting entrepreneurial risk-taking culture
in the country. All these require a synergy
A Ganesh

”
between the Political System, Industry and
Head – HR Academia.
Shriram Transport Finance
Co. Ltd

“ The ITES industry flourished in India till the recent

past mostly on account of cost arbitrage, which is
no more the case. The business model has come
of age by moving from mere process efficiency to
innovation and redefining consumer experience.
Ajay Bhatt
President - Global Human
Resources
Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
To support it, the college education curriculum
must create advanced skills in AI, Analytics etc.

“
The bigger thrust, however, must be on reskilling
and up-skilling mid-career professionals in new Healthcare industry globally is undergoing a
age technology so that we have enough trained massive transformation in terms of technology,
resources for the value-added roles that the access, governance, therapy, and commercial
Industry requires. considerations.

There is a need for political will to move from Talent will continue to dominate the
mere employment generation to allowing transformation agenda in terms of current and

”
industry the elbow room to realign their future skills as the core skills will need to be
talent strategy towards adopting disruptive strengthened while acquiring new skills.
technologies. The industry needs to invest in up-
skilling their resources in new technology without
being concerned about immediate returns.
The industry and investment ecosystem have
already started to foster new age enterprises

64 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 As a parallel initiative, there is a growing trend
AmarDeepika Kashyap to invest in in-house training facilities to meet
the requirement of quality technical and non-
President – Group HR
technical skills and also skills for application
Ashok Piramal Group of new age technology which in addition also
creates a requirement for re-skilling for new roles
caused by redundancy of certain jobs.

“
Interestingly, today there are a handful of
The transition from a Sellers’ market to a new start-ups which engage in the business
Consumer centric market drew sharp focus of upgrading skills for application of new age
of industry on the need to build a flexible and technologies. They are guaranteeing higher
efficient supply chain for timely delivery of quality employability and compensation by linking their
products and product variants. The importance fees to the same. This could well emerge as
of providing the customer with a high-quality another source for training and lateral hiring.
service experience got recognized as a major
differentiator for market growth and sustenance. In the quest for acquiring the right skills, there
As manual interventions for strengthening the are additional alternate sources to choose from,
supply chain had limited impact, it became such as the apprenticeship route to hire potential
imperative to introduce new age technologies talent, the pool of employable millennials who
such as digitalization, AI, Machine Learning, choose not to work from office, the gig workers,
Robotics, VR & AR, for adding value to different consultants for project based assignments,
segments of the supply chain. outsourcing routine jobs and providing tapping
the employable female workforce.
Large OEMs in the automotive space, particularly
those having a close interface with global One can expect the strategy for meeting skill
companies, have gradually enhanced the level requirements to increasingly assume centre stage
of automation on the shop floor and adopted

”
in the overall business strategy of automotive
new age technologies like digitalization, machine industry.
learning, data analytics and even robotics in their
workspace. Scores of smaller partners including
vendors and dealers/retailers attached to these
organizations have also had to make a headway
in digitalization. A few MNC’s have recently
set up R&D facilities with advanced new age Amit Malik
technologies in India, to cater to larger global Chief People, Operations &
markets.
Customer Services Officer
While the gradual increase in the application of Aviva Life Insurance India Ltd.
new age technologies in the automotive industry
is creating new avenues for employment, it is

“
also posing a huge challenge. Industry is already
grappling with the deficit in basic technical I believe that the life insurance industry will see
and functional skills. Unfortunately, ITI’s and consolidation in the coming years and will witness
the innumerable technical and management investment in research on consumer behavior to
institutes that have mushroomed have not tap into the largely untapped pool of insurable
contributed to the pool of skilled manpower. population. The sector is likely to witness rapid
Instead, they have only added to the number of digitization though will continue to remain a
unemployable youths in the country. Garnering ‘high-touch’ business. There is going to be huge
higher level of skills for application of new age demand for skills like data analytics, digital,
technologies in this scenario is going to require a social media, new technologies and mergers &
lot of lateral thinking and strategizing. acquisitions.

It has become increasingly important for the Organizations need to invest in building a
industry to play a pro-active role in the eco- proposition that is in tune with the needs of
system by closely collaborating with government the millennials, wherein they can choose and
regulators of training and education and select features that best suit their needs. There
government and private vocational and academic is an urgent need to invest in upskilling talent
institutions by sharing information on current skill to provide customers with capable financial
deficit and future skills, participating in designing

”
advisory to best suit the customer need for every
the curriculum, providing internship opportunity life stage.
and overall supporting them to become a
potential source for employable manpower.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 65

 and the eco-system to invest and reward skills in

”
the labour market. This is the new ‘survival kit’
Archana Bhaskar for industry.
CHRO and Head Corporate
Communications
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd
Dr. P. V. Ramana Murthy
Executive Vice President & Global

“
Head – Human Resources
Even at the current rate of growth, India’s Pharma The Indian Hotels Company
sector is estimated to reach USD 80-90 billion Limited (Taj Group of Hotels)
by 2030 and create one to two million additional
jobs for the country in the same period. A key

“
differentiator here will be the Sales function,
where the ratio of medical representatives to Jack Welch, in the annual report of General
doctors is expected to rise significantly given Electric (2020) said “If the rate of change on
increasing competition in the organized sector. the outside exceeds the rate of change on the
Sales force excellence will be key to winning. In inside, the end is near.” KPMG and FICCI recently
doing so, Sales leaders will have to transform the published their report on the impact of ‘digital’
sales organisation’s mindsets, habits and culture. in the travel and tourism industry. It emphasized
As patients expect more wellness solutions that hospitality brands are embracing technology
beyond medicines such as services, devices and and are transforming into experience platforms
apps, the industry will have to adapt to deal with while automating operations. However, the
multiple channels and put patient at the front hospitality sector is highly human-intensive and
and centre of all work. This would mean different would continue to be predominantly driven by
business models, different capabilities in people manual processes. Disruptive technology such
and faster response times. as AI, ML, robotics, etc. will definitely impact
the way we look at skilling in the industry, but
While Ayushman Bharat has been a start, India we also need to be cognizant of the fact that
is yet to achieve universal healthcare access. deployment of technology will both replace as
This will be critical to offset the saturation in well as supplement human labour. As an industry,
export markets and rising regulatory constraints we should put complete focus on ensuring
& see a renewed focus on the domestic market. that our education and skilling infrastructure is

”
WE are currently seeing a lack of capabilities relevant and continuously developed to keep up
in the innovation space. A talent pool with with the transformation.
advanced skills is limited in India with only 2,000
PhD students enrolled in Pharmacy institutes
(compared to over 15,000 PhD students enrolled
in the US.) There is also a gap between the college
curriculum and the industry’s requirements. Faisal Nadeem Saiyed
However, this is being addressed already as part Director - People Services, APAC
of the Life Sciences Sector Skill Development
Expedia Group

”
Council’s (LSSSSDC) agenda, along with the
introduction of apprenticeship.

Balachandar NV
Executive Director – HR
Ashok Leyland
“ The eCommerce Industry is, in a manner of
speaking, not only at the forefront of the cutting-
edge technology, but also, is leading in terms of
latest innovation and disruption. Thus, three big
skill sets that one can forecast relate to Data
Sciences, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual
Reality (VR). These skills are and will be used
to virtually re-create new jobs, some of which,

“
we don’t even know what they will look like!
Jobs in future in India will be less permanent more Thus, the entire eComm space is undergoing
semi-permanent. Unique skills will command a transformation and will emerge stronger because
premium whereas low-skill jobs will cease to exist. of all the dramatic changes that we are creating!
Redundancy in skills will be rapid and unique
skills will become industry agnostic. For example, India’s education system needs a systematic
retail selling skills may become relevant in auto review of the course curriculum, teaching
parts sales and maybe in construction material methodology and the evaluation criteria. We
going forward. Technology will overtake, but need to invest heavily into teacher training
human connect will still be in demand. The need and skilling them first before we talk about the
of the hour is to have a strong skill development students. Despite being a country with one of
framework in place, state sponsored or otherwise the largest English-speaking populations, India

66 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 punches far below its weight in terms of world
class research facilities, universities, Nobel prize Challenges have continued to remain around providing
winners and patent holders. The quality of high- the right manning norms for patient care. There has
end innovation and technology hubs also leaves always been a demand supply gap of doctors and
a lot to be desired. Thus, a key component in nurses to patients. This can only be addressed with
India’s growth story has to entail a ‘knowledge right levels of Public Private Partnerships in education

” ”
revolution’ that rests on a vibrant teacher: student and a drastic improvement in the quality of education
community. provided that is required for the patient of today.

Gautam Kar Kannika Sagar

Head- Talent Acquisition Chief People Officer
Wipro Limited HCL Infosystems Ltd

“ The challenges being faced in IT industry’s talent

landscape today are the dynamic nature of
business – every year there is a launch of new
technology in the market hence upskilling and
adaptability of current talent to new business
“ The future clearly lies in jobs that add value to
an organization’s growth amidst a dynamic
environment. So, skills in the area of Artificial
Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Analytics,
Cyber-security, Cloud and Mobility will continue
needs is a challenge in a short span of time. Also, to be in high demand. Repeatable tasks or
there is limited talent pool available in Tier 2 and processes will be taken over by technology, like
Tier 3 locations - limited people mobility due to Robotic Process Automation.
the affiliation to their native location. Only 40% of
the IT talent available meet the skill expectation, Automation to succeed in any organization also
while for remaining 60% we need to invest in requires skills of a different kind. Apart from
upskilling with experience. technical skills, employees also need to have an
innovative mindset, problem solving skills and
New skills coming up in IT industry are Digital, change management sensitivity to leverage
Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, automation and unlock its true value for the
Automation and Machine learning are new organization.
upcoming skills in IT industry. The IT industry
desperately needs the upskilling of candidates There is an urgent need for employees to learn
on future technology. We need to ear mark key new skills, even unlearn earlier skills. While we see

”
institutions with specialized programs of relevant that fresh graduates generally have the new age
skills. skills, it is the experienced set of employees that
need to learn new skills as per their role. For this
set of employees, it is also important to imbibe
new ways of working such as flatter hierarchies,

”
employee entrepreneurship, self-management
Jacob Jacob and design thinking.
Group Chief HR Officer
Columbia Asia Healthcare

Maninder Kapoor Puri

“
Group Chief People Officer
The Healthcare Industry is rapidly changing, both Mastek Ltd.
from a clinical and technological perspective.
The Industry is making an all-out effort to try
and get closer to the patient and meet his/her

“
needs in the most appropriate manner with a
focus on both cure and care. Therefore, it is even The wave of digitalization is catching momentum
more critical that skill sets of agility, flexibility and has consequently opened the doorway to a
and passion will make all the difference. The pool of opportunity with immense potential to
ability of caregivers who work in this Industry generate revenue, create more jobs and boost
to provide service with an emotional connect is GDP. Both public and private sectors are turning
what is required to make the difference in patient toward smart automated solutions to improve
care. These skills are currently lacking and will be customer experience, optimize costs and add
needed to make that difference. efficiency to the various business processes and

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 67

operations. HBR posted that India recently jumped 65 managers. This will call for professionals who are high
places in the World Bank’s Easeof Doing Business Index on analytical skills and left brain thinking; supported
and is one of the 10 economies that improved the most by right brain thinking that will permit lateral thinking
in the past two years. With the right skills, effective and creative problem solving. Technology, networking,
strategy and infrastructure, we can reinvent the Indian partnering & collaborating skills will also play an
IT landscape to cater to the surge in demand and deliver important role.
on the government’s economic goals.
The Banking Industry’s focus for the future will be
Demand for technological, social and emotional, and business and organization acumen, re-skilling and
higher cognitive skills will rise by 2030 as per a report focusing on internal mobility for wider exposure that
by McKinsey. The change we are going through is will enhance performance of employees. Flat structures,
called the fourth Industrial Revolution. The adoption skill enhancement and periodic surveys to get a pulse

”
of automation and AI technologies will continue from employees will be key expectations from the talent
to increase at the fastest pace ever. Organizations, of the future.
individuals and governments need to be prepared for
several possibilities, even seemingly unlikely, outcomes.

One immediate challenge is to stay relevant- fresh

graduates need to gain industry experience required
Mehraz Balaporia
to thrive and mid-level professionals need to upskill
themselves to survive the disruptive technology trends. Head – Talent Acquisition &
A good way to accomplish this objective is through Business Partnership
reverse mentoring. We do this at Mastek through an RBL Bank
initiative called Project Deep Blue.

“
With Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence
and Robots that can mimic humans, the focus is shifting There are immense employment opportunities for
towards recruiting people who can bring more to the home grown / local talent through Microfinance

”
table with their leadership skills, emotional intelligence in Semi urban / Rural India. Amongst the lending
& design-thinking. sectors, the Microfinance business is one of the
most profitable and human capital intensive
sectors.

The ever-growing need for talent is immense

in this industry, creating ample employment
Manoj Tibrewal opportunities. This is further strengthened by
Group Head – Human Resources, technology and financial reforms by RBI in this
Distribution, MarCom and Branding sector. With introduction of financial array of
AU Small Finance Bank products to the most deserving population, there
is a huge demand for skilled employment and
young talent. This further leads to opportunities

“ ”
for the home grown/local talent in tier III/IV cities
The recent GDP numbers have been out; and one where the economic growth is up surging.
key aspect is that the building blocks towards
achieving $5 Trillion economy seem to be firmly
in place. The Banking Industry in general will see
a lot of scale up and must support in this journey.
The scale of strategy, systems, competencies Nirav Jagad
and organizational capabilities, technology,
Chief People Officer
skills, service levels, responsiveness, quality, and
resource productivity will change dramatically Nykaa.com
and will call for out of the box thought processes
and solutions. The future of skills and jobs can
The recent GDP numbers have been out; and one

“
key aspect is that the building blocks towards
achieving $5 Trillion economy seem to be firmly The Internet Business continues to experience
in place. The Banking Industry in general will see the employability gap, whereby the ideal fit to
a lot of scale up and must support in this journey. a role in view of the education comes up short.
The scale of strategy, systems, competencies Some of the skills we experience a challenge with
and organizational capabilities, technology, are Analytical Skills, Creativity, Problem Solving
skills, service levels, responsiveness, quality, and and Technology Skills.
resource productivity will change dramatically
and will call for out of the box thought processes Some of the new roles I foresee that will be in
and solutions. The future of skills and jobs can be high demand in future in our industry will be in
summarized to include business, consulting and the space of Data Analytics, Cloud Computing,
leadership skills. Having a global mind-set that is Cybersecurity, UI UX Designer, Legal and
inclusive and is able to deal with diverse cultures, Compliance and People (HR) Professionals. The
being able to deal with ambiguity and learning sought-after skills complementing these roles will
to manage intellect will be must haves for hiring be Coding, Technology Product understanding,

68 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Consumer Insights, Emotional Intelligence, Listening There is an opportunity to review and streamline
Skills and Legal expertise. a number of prevailing labor laws into a more
manageable set, as is being suggested. This review
At Nykaa, we create a buddy system where a relatively will consider wages, industrial relations, social security
new employee is paired with an existing employee who provision and working conditions, and should enhance
is proficient in the skills required. We constantly expose productivity and growth once implemented. The other
the individual to live assignments to allow the individual recommendation is to remain focused on improving the

” ”
to work on the skills with guidance from proficient team quality of tertiary education and overall employability
members & if need be, we also hire a specialist. of young people entering the workforce.

Pradipta Sahoo Rajeshwar Tripathi

Chief Human Resources Officer Chief People Officer
Karvy Fintech Private Limited Mahindra & Mahindra

“ The ITES industry flourished in India till the recent

past mostly on account of cost arbitrage, which is
no more the case. The business model has come
of age by moving from mere process efficiency to
innovation and redefining consumer experience.
“ One of the biggest shifts I see the future of skills
and jobs in the automotive industry is that most
of the jobs and even skills are fast becoming
multi-disciplinary unlike in the past which were
limited to one or two domain areas. New skills
such as cognitive, digital, mechatronics, data
To support it, the college education curriculum
sciences, analytics etc. will be required in higher
must create advanced skills in AI, Analytics etc.
numbers and complexity as well. Another big shift
The bigger thrust, however, must be on reskilling
I am witnessing is the emphasis on application
and up-skilling mid-career professionals in new
of multi-faceted knowledge getting into the job
age technology so that we have enough trained
designs. These are not the same as traditionally
resources for the value-added roles that the
understood skills.
Industry requires.
The biggest challenge I see that should be
There is a need for political will to move from
addressed in the near term is that while the
mere employment generation to allowing
changes are inevitable and mostly not a matter
industry the elbow room to realign their
of choice or control over pace, we do not seem to
talent strategy towards adopting disruptive
have mastered as a country the art of reskilling.
technologies. The industry needs to invest in up-
This has to be a much more structured and
skilling their resources in new technology without
planned process. The solution could lie in our
being concerned about immediate returns. The
ability to set up and leverage the institutional
industry and investment ecosystem have already
knowledge in the country and industry. The
started to foster new age enterprises and this
cost of reskilling human capital in this context
momentum must be sustained by supporting

”
needs to be considered as a part of the overall
entrepreneurial risk-taking culture in the country.
investment for change.
All these require a synergy between the Political

”
System, Industry and Academia.

Rashmi Mansharamani
Chief Human Resources Officer
Prashant Bhatnagar
The Wave Group
Director – Human Resources
Credit Suisse

“ With technology transforming the financial

services industry, deep technology skills,
especially in the areas of Robotic Process
Automation and Machine Learning, are becoming
“ The construction industry would see a huge
requirement of skilled blue-collar workers to
enhance quality and productivity. IOT engineers
and data scientists would need to work on smart
cities. Engineers would need to be well versed
with techno-commercial knowledge and skilled
increasingly relevant. There is a growing need for in latest construction technologies.
people who can work in collaborative, diverse
teams solving complex problems, and this will There is an urgent need for the academia and
warrant a higher level of cognitive, social and the industry to collaborate to co-create course
emotional skills. People will have to invest time content and make the shift from being faculty-
and energy on learning how they learn.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 69

 focused to learner-centric. Our Government must in long/short format digital content which is native to
create a nodal agency to facilitate collaboration diverse set of platforms are essential. As new platforms
between industry and academia. Industry needs emerge, the skill on programmatic and digital will
to be incentivized to run training cum internship continue to evolve.
programs for blue collar workers & engineers.
The Government and the corporate world need The current challenge is the employability of talent
to co-invest in creating Centre of Excellence from colleges as there is a huge gap and skills learnt are

”
in future skills in Universities/Engineering not easily transferable. Organizations currently need to
colleges. heavily invest in upskilling. I think the education industry

”
needs to work hand in hand to curate courses that are
vital for the industry today and the future.

Ravindra Kumar G. P.
Chief Human Resources Officer
Sandip Kulkarni
Tata Motors
CHRO
Brinks India

“ Technical institutes (ITI, Diploma & Engineering)

are still largely churning out the students with
traditional skills like fitter, machinist, or degrees in
mechanical, electrical engineers and with minimal
exposure to ‘how’ of work. The need of the hour is “ We are aligned with the national goals and
developing the skilled manpower by following the
standards and norms of the Cash Management
industry. We are emphasizing more on training
to refresh the curriculum towards mechatronics,
high voltage, vehicle communication etc. and and certifying employees through an online
equip them to participate in industry 4.0 and test which is conducted by CCA (Currency
lean manufacturing by familiarizing them with Cycle Association (SRO) Self-Regulatory
skill for problem solving, working in mission- Organisation). This will help the employees to
based teams etc. boost their morale and upscaling themselves
in their career path. We are also having an
We are seeing jobs migrating from and into the ongoing plan with National Skill Development
industry from outside but it’s the redefinition of Corporation to certify employees based on their
roles that is seeing bigger and faster change. We qualifications and the skills required by them to
will need employees who can work in multiple perform their duties. We are ready to expand
teams with co-employees and partners, with a our business in other verticals in urban areas so
higher degree of ownership and accountability that we can attract more candidates and provide
and lesser supervision, displaying entrepreneurial them with employment.
and problem solving like start-ups do, at every
level. We are also planning to run an apprentice
program for students who are currently studying
The four mega trends shaping the auto industry in colleges so that they have the awareness of
are Autonomous, Connected, Electric and the Cash Management and Logistic industry. We
Shared. These will eventually reshape every assure that this will help students to build their
role in Tata Motors. We are working to evaluate career and have an in-depth knowledge of the
current capability, future needs and the roadmap industry. This will be a part of their academic
to the get there on one hand and to seed the curriculum and carry weight on the submission
culture of turnaround. Future talent will need of the project. We are working towards
benefiting the nation and creating youth wealth

”
to exhibit a growth mindset becoming more
receptive to learning and change by upscaling their skillset, training them which
will help them to achieve their desired goals in
the future. In my opinion, the skills and jobs for
our industry for the future will be basic technical
skills to handle ATM machines and customer
service. Candidates having attention to detail are
Rohit Suri more likely to get shortlisted. Future jobs in our
industry will be those of Cash Sorter, Pickup &
Chief Human Resource & Talent
Delivery, Precious Metal Handling, ATM officers
Officer–South Asia and Gunman.
GroupM
The Cash Management Logistics industry is
facing challenges to run the business in urban

“
and rural areas. The CRA has to follow the norms
Most process-oriented roles will continue to get and act as per the MHA guidelines. The day to
automated using tech platforms, AI, ML and RPA day challenges the CRA is facing include lack of
to manage scale and efficiency. The key skills in skilled manpower, infrastructure, and service-
digital, data, analytics, technology, and expertise related issues. One major issue is the high
penalty imposed by the banking sector which

70 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

leads to high turnaround time to close the individual 1. Making Skills Relevant – Improved partnership of
transaction. Day to day shrinkage & theft is leading to industry and institutes, we need to ensure one semester
downsizing of the industry. The swap integrated robust is developed based on industry inputs. I will also suggest
technology will help us bail out of current situations a year of work with the industry to be encouraged, many
and traditional methodology would be no longer exist countries offer tax break for companies who engage
wherein we will have less manual intervention with cash with recently graduated workforce. We should evaluate
handling and data capturing. The other challenge is lack something similar.
of standardisation of policies & process across nations,
unorganised unions, lack of skilled manpower, limitation 2. Beyond Technology, building Soft Skills –
in terms of Govt. provided infrastructure, unorganised Communication skills, a problem-solving mindset,
and unapproachable rural market (below tire 3 & 4 working in ambiguity and learning agility. These skills
cities), changing Government Policies without support, will be equally or more important than technology skills.

”
unavailability of authenticated centralized data related This needs to be inculcated through training & more
to available manpower, old training modules or modules internships focussed on learning these skills.

”
not updated as per ongoing needs and other support
and service-related issues.

Shubha Arora
Chief People Officer - India,
South Asia & HR Director -
Saket Kumar Dwivedy
Middle East
Head – Human Resources
Schindler India Private Limited
UpGrad

“ Our industry has tremendous scope, especially

considering the current and anticipated market
trends. Automation is the key to the future
industries, and AI and ML will be the drivers is
“ Customer expectations on the ‘experience’
& ‘uptime’ are driving companies to prepare
teams for gaining competitive advantage.
The changing environment is impacting the
interplay of disciplines & the interdisciplinary
approach in products & services necessitates
this transformation, which means there will be ‘lifelong learning’. Also, the subtle shift due to
demand for skilled workforce in these domains. Digital is driving the need for ‘re’ & ‘up’ skilling.

”
‘Learning how to learn’ in these times is already a

”
Companies need to be more agile in reaction to key skill.
tech disruptions, as change is inevitable.

Saurabh Govil Srikanth Karra

President & Chief Human Chief Human Resources Officer
Resources Officer Mphasis
Wipro Ltd.

“ Technology impacts all aspects of life; in future

it will become more precise and pervasive. The
IT industry will remain a prominent employer for
talent. Major trends as I see it – As technology
keeps progressing, skills will need to change at
“ The exploding and ever-changing technology
landscape has put premium on new age skills
which are radically different from what it was
a few years back, thereby creating a demand
supply gap.

a much faster pace. For talent in the industry, Skills like multi / hybrid cloud ecosystem, data
it will be important to keep learning newer and and cognitive science, user interfaces, mobility,
different skills to keep oneself employed. The IOT and blockchain, to name a few, have created
other trend which is emerging is of gig economy. what is popularly referred to as full and mean stack
This means talent will have no geographical developers working on different methodologies
boundaries and will have to compete globally. By of software development like agile dev ops in
2020, we expect 40% of workers to be part of the a cloud environment. Enterprise, solution and
gig economy. Wipro also has our own platform - data architects in the digital era also demand a
Topcoder with 1.5 Mn community members doing completely different skill set as opposed to Web
gig work. 2.0 world.

There are two main challenges we must address At Mphasis, we have created a personalised
to be ready: and gamified training platform which curates

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 71

 the new age skills & personalizes the training
to suit the individual context. This helps
in speedy reskilling, certification & quick
Sriram V
deployment of our employees. In short, we call
Chief Human Resources Officer

”
it our Netflix of learning. Can this be done at a
national level? BankBazaar.com

Sriram T. V.
Vice President – Human Resources
“ $5 Trillion cannot come from the Services
Industry alone. In the last few decades, India has
not focused on Manufacturing. We need to focus
on both Services and Manufacturing. Clearly,
China stands as an example for us. Also, India
Robert Bosch Engineering and needs to invest more on R& D. Unless we invent
and innovate, a quantum economical jump is
Business Solutions
difficult.

We must find a way to make “Available Manpower”

“
as “Available Talent (Skill)”. The Indian population
With the very aggressive vision of making India should be converted as an asset instead of a
a $5 trillion economy and global economic problem. Vision and political will is required to
powerhouse by 2024-25, it is imperative that make this. This should largely align with the type
our talent market also makes great strides in

”
of growth we are going to pursue in the coming
this path. The Future of Jobs in India will be generation.
determined by the 3 factors of Globalization,
Demographic changes and adoption of Industry
4.0 technologies. The workforce mix of 2022 (IT
Industry) is predicted to be:

• 10-20% deployed to new jobs that are not

existing today with the very aggressive vision Suchismita Burman
of making India a $5 trillion economy and Chief Human Resources Officer
global economic powerhouse by 2024-25, it is ITC Infotech
imperative that our talent market also makes
great strides in this path. The Future of Jobs
in India will be determined by the 3 factors

“
of Globalization, Demographic changes
and adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. The fourth industrial revolution is changing
The workforce mix of 2022 (IT Industry) is how people work and is transforming the
predicted to be: skill landscape across industry segments. An
• 10-20% deployed to new jobs that are not accelerated adoption of user and big data
existing today analytics will allow for expanded adoption of
• 60-65% would be deployed to changed skill technologies. Machine learning and augmented
sets and virtual reality will receive attention. Trends
• 20-35% will face an existential threat to their in automation, robotization will require shifts
jobs. in skill sets to augment the human potential in
order to drive higher efficiency, effectiveness and
Keeping abreast of latest technologies & making enhance experience. Human oriented skills – soft
reskilling, upskilling a long-term strategy, not just skills will continue to gain prominence and will be
short term is seen as one of the major challenges. in demand.
Academia has to curate courses that are in sync
with the changing times. Emphasis is on soft In our organization, augmenting the human
skills & not just limited to hard or technical skills. potential at work through use of technology is a
Individuals / students must develop a habit driving factor to align our HR policies, processes
of life-long learning. It is no longer the time of and system changes. We have defined 9 moments

”
Study–Work–Retire, but Study–Work–Relearn– of Truth from an employee lens perspective and
Reskill. it acts as a validation point/measure of relevance
in a work environment that thrives on agility and
accountability. As an example, our candidate
connect program through use of technology is
aimed to provide relevant information and build
human connects and establish relationships with

”
the organization and candidates before they
join us.

72 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 Robotic Process Automation and Internet of
Things.

Sunil Moorjani The vast majority of this young population are

Head – Human Resources from the less developed parts of India where
Quikr the infrastructure is poor. They are growing up
in areas where the education they are being
offered is not on par with what is available in
the more developed parts of the country. While

“
the government is taking steps to improve this
The Indian economy has off late seen the advent situation, there is still the fear that the reforms
of an entrepreneurial mindset and outlook. Talent being implemented may not fully take off.
from more mature / evolved industries could However, there is a chance that in case the reforms
possibly struggle to make this transition. The fail, this segment might still be able to pull itself
future for survival will be cost consciousness and up as a result of digital penetration. But the onus
being frugal - it’s not only about “burning” cash is both on government and industry bodies to

”
as we mature, as an industry (ref. e-commerce/ collaborate and build the required infrastructure
online). Being boundary-less and having the to groom this talent pool.
ability to multi-task, being agile and adaptable
- thinking beyond immediate work areas will
be key behaviours that employers will seek in
talent. All jobs will not always be structured.
With technology being at the core of e-Comm,
full stack development roles will be most sought
after, not being confined to either front / back- Prashant Parashar
end development. Data analytics and business President – Global Chief Human
intelligence will play a central role in awareness Resources Officer
and accuracy to target right customer base. Emcure Pharmaceuticals
At Quikr, we have been hiring extensively from
Campuses - both permanent & interns - and
have been taking them through a structured

“
learning journey across business verticals and
roles to build a healthy pipeline. India will have Despite the challenges faced by the
to invest in programs that focus on bridging Pharmaceutical industry, the volume and value
the gaps in having an entrepreneurial mindset. growth continues and India would remain a
Unfortunately, most off the shelf and even prominent contributor in the global life sciences

”
customized development programs don’t cover industry. Indian pharmaceutical organizations
these unique aspects yet. have presence across the generics segment
– mass products as well as complex and niche
formulations. There is a need for scaling up the
API and intermediates manufacturing and supply
base in India and that would give a major boost
to jobs and skills.

Swaminathan R The Pharmaceutical industry requires

Chief People Officer people with multidisciplinary knowledge for
WNS Global Services manufacturing – engineering combined with
either pharmaceutical science or biotechnology.
The equipments for manufacturing and quality
are getting more sophisticated and complex

“
and this requires technical skills to operate and
maintain. The industry has high dependence
According to a Bloomberg analysis, India will
on external partners often based overseas, for
have the world’s largest workforce by 2027. Fifty
equipment maintenance, troubleshooting and
percent of the population is under the age of 25,
this causes delays, significant loss of productivity.
while two-thirds are under 35. Considering that
It is high time that focused investment is targeted
a majority of this young population is growing

”
towards training maintenance engineers for
up in a digital environment, India has a strong
pharmaceutical industry.
competitive edge in terms of offering relevant
skills to the IT-BPM industry. A majority of IT-BPM
companies are also grooming their talent for a
digital future with skills that will enable them to
stay relevant in the face of continuous disruptions.
All of this is underpinned by innovation. Hence,
India is going to be the hub for new-age skills in
areas such as data science, Artificial Intelligence,

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 73

 Udayan Dutt Vishpala Reddy
Global Human Resources Regional HR Director & Head,
Director Asia Pacific
Reckitt Benckiser Uber

“ For our industry and to maximize the opportunity

in India, we need to be able to reach consumers
across the length and breadth of the country at
the right place, right time, right price. Therefore,
a plethora of skills become relevant, be it across
“ The technology industry is extremely dynamic
with disruption and innovation becoming the
norm. In order to stay competitive, responsive
and relevant, organizations need to focus on
recruiting not just talented employees who
possess skills and expertise required for the job,
Sciences, for better R&D, Product Development,
but to gauge their ability to adapt and acquire
Manufacturing, Packaging, or in selling/ marketing
new skills when needed. India’s technical talent
and distribution. With the fast adoption and build
has been our biggest contribution to global
out of technology in our country, e-commerce
innovation and in today’s age of new technologies
would be set to grow, not as another channel
and automation, skill development becomes
but another eco-system where business would
imperative. Digital technologies such as artificial
prosper. Therefore, the gamut of skills required
intelligence (AI) and robotics are transforming
in the traditional brick and mortar world would
the nature of work and the skills needed to thrive
need to also have its equivalents in e-commerce.
in today’s evolving corporate landscape. Humans
and machines will increasingly work together to
For the immediate term, ensuring the call-out
drive productivity. As “old jobs” disappear and
from the industry is for sustainable job categories
“new jobs” are created, the new jobs will require
and families, ensuring proper regulations protect
skills that facilitate collaboration with new
the interests of the employees are put in place
age technologies. Therefore, focusing on skill
balancing it with pragmatic and contemporary
development programmes which are based on
labour law amendments that enable businesses
advanced technologies like data science, artificial

”
to do better and serve its consumers and
intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing,
employees more effectively.
Internet of Things is the only way forward. At
Uber, we constantly invest in our talent through
various learning and development initiatives to

”
improve technical capabilities and continually
upgrade skill sets.

Vasudhara Srivastava
Senior Vice President
– Global HR
Xceedance Consulting
Tanvi Choksi
HR Head and Director
JLL India

“ Truism “People are our most valuable asset” will

catapult India into becoming a powerful economy.

“
We already have a young talent pool with
approximately 50% population below the age of
25. Now we just need to have dynamic learning The International Property Consultants services
interventions in schools and colleges which sector in India continues to provide valuable
foster knowledge, creative thinking and behavior contributions to the country’s growth story. JLL
specifically required by the ever-evolving job India, as the sector leader, continues with its focus
opportunities. Along with this, technology needs being a significant part of the story. We have been
to be the enabler for a real time update on the ramping up hiring for the past two years and are
job opportunity index of demand and supply expecting to hire even higher numbers in 2020. To
through a robust job match phone app which sustain our growth, we will leverage the “JLL India
every student and employer can download, so Under-grad & PG Campus Programs” as well as
“Project Unnati”, which is our flagship program in

”
that information of the job openings and the
skilled work force is freely available. partnership with the National Skill Development
Corporation. Embedded also, in our growth

”
story, is our deep focus on Gender Diversity and
Inclusion.

74 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 75
India is poised at the best demographic standing TOP 10 STATES WHERE MAXIMUM HIRING HAPPENS
in the world with one of the youngest populations
of 600 million people under the age of 25 years.
However, is reaping the benefits of this big opportunity
proving to be an even bigger task? Amidst the rising
technological advancements across industries and
employers complaining of talent crunch, the situation
does not seem encouraging, suggesting that as a nation
we are possibly missing on the chance to utilize this
‘demographic dividend’ and become a future-ready
global human resource powerhouse.

In this view, The India Skills Report 2020 captures both

sides of the talent supply chain. The report on one
side outlines the state of students in terms of their job
readiness.On the other side, the report analyzes the
requirements of employers via a survey taken by senior 1st Karnataka
2nd Maharashtra
leaders across industries along with four focused group 3rd Delhi
discussions across India’s metros. 4th Tamil Nadu
5th Haryana
6th Uttar Pradesh
MATCHING THE SUPPLY WITH DEMAND 7th Andhra Pradesh
8th West Bengal
After analyzing the students’ employability scores and 9th Gujarat
10th Telangana
the findings of the Hiring Intent survey and the inputs
from the HR leaders, we tried to visualize the mapping
of the two ends – the demand and the supply – with
the view to derive key insights and major gaps between Gender-wise – Talent Availability and Hiring Intent
the two.
The available talent pool size was approximately the
State-wise – Talent Availability and Hiring Intent
same for male and female candidates. However, the
inclination for hiring male talent is striking across the
Maharashtra forms the largest employable pool in the
surveyed 9 sectors. The hiring intent of 71% for male
country and is also one of the top hiring destinations
talent clearly exhibited that gender parity is a distant
for employers. Interestingly, even though Rajasthan
dream for Indian Corporates.
has a decent resource pool, no employer is watching it
from a hiring perspective, opening an opportunity to be
AVAILABLE TALENT POOL
leveraged in 2020.

71%
TOP STATES WHERE EMPLOYABLE TALENT IS AVAILABLE

46% 47%

29%

1st Maharashtra
2nd Tamil Nadu
3rd Uttar Pradesh
4th Andhra Pradesh
5th Karnataka Education Domains – Employability and Demand
6th Telangana
7th Delhi • Engineering education is expected to be in maximum
8th Rajasthan
9th West Bengal demand in 2020, followed by graduation courses
10th Gurjarat – BCA/BBA/B.Com/BSc. etc. The engineers’
job readiness declined from last year while the
employability of graduates increased, implying that
they are ready to accept the upcoming opportunities.
• The increasing demand for graduates from BFSI,
e-commerce and BPO, KPO and ITeS sectors will
further add as a catalyst.

76 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

EDUCATION COURSES WHICH HAVE MORE PERCENTAGE PRIORITIES FOR GOVERNMENT, BUSINESSES
OF EMPLOYABLE TALENT AND ACADEMIA

Our assessment of India’s talent supply vis-à-vis its

49% 54% 48% 47% 34% 45% 25% 32% demand brought out an explicit gap in the talent
supply-demand equation. Consequently, to address the
issues of both students and employers, our report takes
the opportunity to express its recommendations to fix
the said issues. The way forward covers a path that the
Government needs to travel together with the Industry
and the Academia to bridge the mismatch between
talent supply and demand.

HOW CAN THE GOVERNMENT HELP?

Reforming the education sector –

Outdated curriculum is cited as the
Engineers (BE/B.Tech)

biggest deterrent in the right skilling

of a candidate. Making small tweaks
to the system will not be enough. The
Government along with the industry and
Polytechnic
B. Pharma

academia could plan to revise the entire curriculum and

B. Com

teaching practices. Reviewing the teachers’ training

B. Sc

MCA
MBA

BA

and infrastructure in schools and colleges would be

imperative in this direction. Imparting practical-oriented
knowledge and helping in cultivating the right attitude
EDUCATION-WISE HIRING MIX IN ORGANIZATIONS among students towards job and learning, beginning at
the school level itself will result in effective influence
30% over the individuals. The country needs to benchmark
its education system with global standards, since the
Undergraduate
or Equivalent
workforce of the future will be more international than
ITI national, competing on global platforms. India sitting
8% Polytechnic on its large demographic dividend of millennials cannot
PG or Equivalent
3% stay far behind. The more the workforce is up for global
(MCA/M.Sc./MA/
3% assignments, the more the country and its industries
M.Com/CA/M.Tech)
Management or have to gain.
Equivalent (MBA/PGDM)
26% 13% Graduates (BCA/BBA/
B.Com/B.Sc. etc) Need for a unified database – The
17% Engineers (BE/B.Tech) Government in collaboration with
industry and academia could initiate
on building a nation-wide, real-time
portal – reflecting the jobs, current skills
requirement/availability in the industry,
and availability of candidates, funds, initiatives, among
other information on the same platform – to help all
stakeholders.

Policy level changes – The labour

laws in the country need to amend to
enable labour-intensive sectors such as
manufacturing and auto to scale their
businesses. Due to stringent laws, auto
companies prefer to hire candidates on
contract and avert from hiring permanent
employees. Further, the policy changes need to take
into consideration the plight and convenience of women
employees in blue-collared jobs, developing supportive
policies for women including child-care subsidies and
monitoring the effective reach and implementation
of National Creche Scheme to women workers in the
unorganized sector. Further, the Government could
also step in to set standards for the skill development
initiatives driven by industries, especially in advanced
technologies and the compensation scales across
organizational levels and industries. This will give socio-
economic stability to people and make the distribution
of money across levels and skills even.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 77

 Effective marketing for skill
development programmes – The
Government needs to make its
programmes reach out to every corner
of the country through awareness
campaigns to motivate more candidates
to enroll in these programmes. The gram
sabha and panchayats can be reached out to promote
skills development in men and women alike.

Incentivizing corporates for skilling

people in emerging advanced
technologies such as AI, Robotics,
AR/VR and data analytics, and/or for
creating mass employment opportunities
and internships. The role of MSME in the
country’s GDP and job-creation cannot be ignored.
Hence, encouraging SMEs and MSMEs to adopt
new technologies such as additive manufacturing,
engineering design and more could prove to be effective.
With 51 million MSME units in the country employing
about 117 million people across sectors, constituting
40% of the workforce and contributing 37% share to
the total GDP, skilling initiatives at these organisations
will have a massive impact on the workforce and
the economy.

WHAT CAN THE INDUSTRY DO?

Skilling and re-skilling initiatives –

Companies can collaborate with each
other to establish an efficient skilling
ecosystem in their sectors. The online
learning platforms, collaborating with
training centers and colleges in the area
or at the city level can be a way that can be leveraged
to develop the required skill among the candidates.
For instance, ‘futureskills’ is an initiative by NASSCOM
where it is collaborating with the IT/ITeS companies to
skill about 2 million candidates in the next 5 years, on
150+ skills, across 70+ jobs, in 10 emerging technologies.
Furthermore, reskilling employees across levels should
be a constant activity and part of the company strategy.

Increasing women participation –

The industry, in coordination with
the government, needs to put the
right infrastructure in place for
women employees to encourage their attitude of the students. Supporting ‘train the trainer’
participation in the workforce. Women programs can help minimize the gaps that might exist
employees should be treated just as men on pay-scale, in the knowledge of faculty and trainers. For example,
promotions and work distribution. Parallelly, to retain in association with the Ministry of Skill Development,
working mothers, the industry should support them by IBM is aiming to train 10,000 faculty members from ITIs
reskilling the women who return from maternity breaks, across India in AI-related education over the next year.
provide child-care services, flexible work timings and Similar efforts can be replicated across industries and
supporting gig work among other initiatives. institutes to widen the reach of such initiatives.

Increased involvement with education WHAT CAN ACADEMIA DO?

institutions – Participating in curriculum
formation for schools and colleges Inculcate right behavior and attitude
would align the industry’s requirements - The academia needs to inculcate the
with education and skilling, across the right behavior and attitude among
nation. Further, frequent college visits students about jobs and their career.
can be used to make students more The prevailing problems, for instance,
aware of the trends and requirements of the industry. students being unclear about career
The same can also help counsel students on their career choices and predisposed attitude
choices. Increasing internship opportunities with the towards blue-collared jobs, switching jobs and floor
companies and effectively monitoring the progress work in the auto company need to be addressed
of students can further help in building the skills and

78 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

 learning, institutes must consider competencies of its
trainers/teachers and maintain infrastructural facilities,
which form the building blocks of any institution.

Strong Career Counciling Cells in

partnership with Industry – Students
need constant direction and guidance
in helping them identify what career
stream best matches their abilities, skills
and passion. Academic institutions and
industry stakeholders need to partner professionally
and formally to provide direction and career counselling
to students and help them in their decision making
process and career pathing. Each industry segment can
partner with institutions with complementing curricula.

Formal 2 year internships should be made

mandatory where students get incubated
in the professional setting of their choice
in a rigorous and tough program that is
measured to make them all rounders in
that chosen discipline.

Besides focused treading towards the above

recommendations, India – a nation that is brimming
with young and dynamic talent – can also unlock the
potential in alternative opportunities such as fast-
tracking women’s retention and career growth, and
exploring more gig-based and global-level projects.
This, we are sure, will empower India not just to reach
parity with the global community of professionals in
terms of attitude, skills and knowledge, but also to
realise its ambition of becoming a $5 trillion economy
in the coming years.

with utmost care. The concept of lifetime learning

and preparedness for taking on challenges should be
inculcated in the students. Further, academia needs
to counsel/guide students to make appropriate career
choices and, above all, to follow their passion and not
chase pay-checks or give-in to peer pressure.

Making learning learner-driven – The

academia needs to actively seek
methods to customize the curriculum and
courses as per the students’ aspirations
and industry requirements. Practical
knowledge-based education, interactive
learning modules and enhanced
usage of online materials and digital aids should be
emphasized upon. Further, foundational skills such as
cognitive skills, problem-solving, numeracy, business
communication and more, should also be equally
prioritized as any other technical skills. To support such

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 79

Reimagine Accounting
and Finance

CIMA has always aimed to drive the profession forward new technologies and new skills, competencies and
while respecting its heritage and embracing the future. mindset. While it showed that 50% of finance leaders
On 31st January this year, we delivered the findings of globally, feel their teams’ competencies must “change
one of our most important research projects to date, significantly” in the next three years, it also highlighted
which looked at what the future holds for management that most of finance professionals are not growing
accounting. their skillsets fast enough to make up for the impact
of artificial intelligence, robotic process automation
The report: Re-inventing finance for a digital world, and other technologies. In addition, our Agile Finance
contains the insights of conversations with 5,500 finance Unleashed report found that 90% of finance leaders to
professionals, 2,000 employers from over 150 countries. do not believe that their teams currently have the skills
It revealed that current and future finance professionals to support the business’s digital ambitions.
need to embrace technology to go beyond insight to
drive impact, beyond limits to deliver solutions and According to the World Economic Forum, machines
beyond expectations to create value. and algorithms will handle 52 percent of current work
tasks by 2025 compared to 29 percent in 2018. This
Digital is transforming the Future or Finance and shifting technology shift could create up to 133 million new job
from cost to value, creating change in responsibilities,

80 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

roles but could also displace an estimated 75 million The finance professionals need to enhance their social
jobs by 2022. In this context, routine-based and middle- and commercial skills to better tell the story of the
skilled roles in the accounting, client management, business, generate new insights and business solutions,
industrial, postal and secretarial sectors are the most and collaborate effectively with their colleagues across
vulnerable. their organisation, from sales to HR, and external
stakeholders. This will enable them to become influential
When combined with the right digital skills and mindset, business partners and value creators delivering real
basic digital literacy to work in a digital environment business intelligence to improve both overall company
can be improved. Technology know-how where deeper and staff performance.
expertise are needed and can be contributed. Mindset
and behaviours to succeed in a digital environment can All this means we have to reimagine, meaning rethinking,
also be apparent. relearning, reskilling and reshaping everything we know
about accounting and finance. Change has never moved
30% identify that the finance function is evolving faster than it does today. And it will never move slower.
towards a pentagonal shape in the digital age. This
shift creates the opportunity for a rewarding career in ABOUT THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF
finance, and to drive real value to organisations. INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS
To thrive, finance professionals need to develop new Founded a hundred years ago, the Chartered Institute
digital skills and competencies that complement their of Management Accountants (CIMA) is the world’s
traditional finance and accounting skills. They must leading and largest professional body of management
have basic digital literacy and to be able to understand accountants. You can find our members and students in
how digital technologies can disrupt business models. 179 countries at the cutting edge of finance, working at
They also need to make a wholesale change in mindset. the heart of organisations to guide decision makers and
drive transformation in the digital world.
Finance professionals must move fast to thoughtfully
reimagine what they do and how they do it, or risk Building on CIMA’s rich heritage and through our work
being left behind. As their professional body, it is our with the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to form
role to help them navigate these unfamiliar times. This is the Association of International Certified Professional
why in January 2019, we launched our enhanced CIMA Accountants (the Association) in 2017, we are driving a
Professional Qualification driven by the findings of our dynamic accounting profession worldwide and leading
extensive and rigorous research programme into the both public and management accounting professionals
future of finance. into the future. Together, we are reimagining the world
of finance
CIMA also has available professional development
programmes that individuals are able to undertake be it
from IFRS, Cybersecurity, Blockchain and more for skill
and competency building.

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 81

Bal Bharti’s Maghanmal
Pancholia College Of Commerce

CORE VALUES * Happiness of child and youth is a goal worth pursuing

for schools and colleges.
Since its inception in 1956, BalBharati has instilled and * Parental education is as important as faculty
pursued a set of basic values. These values pursued by development.
BalBharati are worth re-scribing here: * An educational institution should equally worry and
care for hygiene, health and food habits of its pupils
* All learning is and should be fun. as much as focusing on their academic development.
* Character development is more important than * Awareness about the responsibility of the youth to
academic scores. value, protect and conserve the environment.
* Compulsion and punishment do not lead to any
achievements. These ideals although were regarded fringe ideas back
* Corporal punishment is not acceptable under any in 50s, have over the decades become more relevant
circumstances. and acceptable in modern society and have come to
* A child and a youth shall not be physically or signify basic minimum standards for any educational
emotionally abused by teacher or parents under any institution worth its salt.
circumstances.

82 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

VISION and successful HSC Plus program. The learners at
Junior college level are exposed to various practical
• To be recognized as a high-performance value- aspects of the subjects that their learning by
based educational institution that uses state of the art actually exposing them to real life scenarios maybe
technology to advance learning, teaching & research. banking marketing advertising financing etc
3. The institution has its own School of business
MISSION wherein young learners are motivated to become
future entrepreneurs and giving a substantial value
• To resurrect the lost art of MAKING CHILDREN addition to their knowledge base on practical note.
HAPPY through dissemination of information and 4. Offering Degrees in Bachelor of Commerce,
imparting knowledge to the youth. Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance),
• To make the process of learning through education, Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) in affiliation
an enjoyable experience. with the University of Mumbai
• To impart quality education to the students in the 5. Conducting Workshops and seminars on various
neighborhood area among general and Gujarati management, marketing and finance related topics
linguistic minority students in particular. 6. Organizing Industrial visits and field trips to provide
• To provide valuable services in the field of education real life understanding of the industry and its
from pre-primary to graduate level under one roof. functioning.
• To motivate the students to achieve academic 7. Developing analytical skills by assigning curriculum
excellence especially for those coming from a lower- related Projects and obtaining project reports
middle-class stratum of the society and vernacular on various finance, marketing, management and
medium. human resource development related topics by the
• To motivate the students to follow a holistic lifestyle Learners
by inculcating good hygiene and healthy food 8. Offering Internship in industry to Learners.
habits. 9. Organising Commerce and Economic’s week
• To mold the character of the students from a tender for Bachelor of Commerce students thereby
age so as to imbibe in them the virtues of honesty, encouraging interaction between people from the
sincerity, dedication, punctuality, discipline, integrity industry and the learners , sharing of experiences,
and above all patriotism for the nation. case studies, problem solving, sharing practical
• To develop the personality of the students by problems in the industry and their solutions etc.
organizing various programs like guest lectures on 
Anti Ragging, Anti Dowry, AIDS awareness, Child
nutrition, and care, etc., competitions, social & Non-Academic Activities
cultural activities, sports meeting, etc.
• Generate opportunities for the students for 1. Organising Cultural festival at inter Collegiate levels
participating in various competitions and thereby and Intra college level .
giving a platform for their overall development. 2. Motivating the students to gain hands-on experience
• To inculcate in students trust for knowledge and in organization, production, designing, marketing,
excellence. financial planning and execution of events .
• To retain the culture and rich heritage of the 3. Conducting various Sports activities, to inculcate
country in the modern era so as to create a socially discipline, sportsman spirit, mental and physical
responsible citizen of the nation. fitness and team spirit among the learners .
4. Conducting Social Outreach Programmes and
PRACTICES Service to the society through various projects
of  National Service Scheme , fundraising
Bal Bharati believes in transforming through training for donations through Joy of Giving, Happiness
and experience. Unlimited, Gift a Smile so as  to develop a
sense of social responsibility .
We give mentorship , teaching a set curriculum as well 5. Enabling Placement Services for the smooth
as providing hands on experiences which prepares the transition of the Learners from the academic sphere
students for employment and entrepreneurship. We to the workforce.
have qualified and committed faculty who challenge 6. Develop Soft skill and personality development
and encourage learner’s to unlearn learn and relearn programmes for the all-round development of the
modern relevant concepts. students
7. Encouraging the students and the faculty to
Bal Bharati aims at creating professionals through participate in various paper presentations,
developing competence and managerial knowledge paper publishing, workshops and seminars in
which will enrich the learner’s in developing their careers the subjects of management, banking, finance,
commerce, economics, marketing, human resource
development etc.
ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTION : 8. For the holistic development of the learners,
management is offering exposure to musical
Academic Activities instruments classical dancing and stage
performances, showcasing their talents through Bal
1. At the schooling level the institution is probably the Bharati Natyashala.
first in establishing a Multimedia School, which is
a combination of existing curriculum blended with
modern technology learning.
2. At the college level it has started a very unique

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 83

APPENDIX

SURVEY METHODOLOGY & DATA ANALYSIS

The India Skills Report is a consolidated piece of two 28 States &

distinct yet cohesive studies i.e. Wheebox National
Employability Test – an employability skill test and 9 UTs covered
India Hiring Intent Survey – a primary research survey.
While the Wheebox National Employability Test, WNET,
assessed the employability amongst students evaluating
their readiness for the job market, India Hiring Intent
2020 studied the hiring trend and preferences of the
employers for the next year 2020.

For WNET, we reached out to over 3500 educational

institutions and 300 thousand students through an
5,200
Institution reached
online skill assessment across 28 States and 9 Union
Territories. All the responses were collected online
through a structured survey including respondents’ 9
demographic information. Responses were tabulated Courses covered
and analysed using statistical tools to represent data in
this report. The assessment scores were normalised on
all demographic parameters to eliminate any possibility
of polarisation of data. Students were asked specific
India Hiring Intent Survey was carried out by Taggd ,by
questions related to their education along with a
PeopleStrong – who reached out to more than 1000+
psychometric assessment which helped us understand
organizations/corporates from 14 different sectors.
their non-technical skill profile. The outcome of the
An online survey conducted between September and
survey was analyzed around various parameters such
November received 150+ completed responses which
as educational domain-specific employability, state-
were considered for the analysis.
specific employability to get the top 10 states, city-
specific employability to get the top 10 cities, gender-
specific employability, expected salary ranges, interest
for apprenticeship opportunities etc.

84 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020

Below are further details on respondent profiles of
this report:

1. Total Survey respondents – 200 from 14 sectors

2. Qualified respondents – 150+ from 9 sectors

THINK TANK SERIES

To support the analysis, we conducted 4 focus group

discussions in 4 metro cities with more than 200+
corporates leaders and academicians. From the
discussions, we understood their challenges and what
they would like to suggest to the government, academia
and industry as solutions to these challenges.

PARTICIPATION BY COMPANY TYPE

2% 58%
2%

Indian Private Sector

Multinational Company
Others (Trust, Non-Profit)
Public Sector Enterprise
39%

PARTICIPATION BY COMPANY SIZE

42% 11%
26%

0-500
501-1000
1001-5000
5001+
21%

PARTICIPATION BY INDUSTRY TYPE

BFSI
Pharma &
16% 11% Healthcare
4%
4%
Manufacturing
Others
11%
4% E-Commerce
11% Telecom
IT Services
BPO, KPO &ITeS
7% Automotive
Core Sector
7%
9% 11% CD & FMCG
9% Retail

INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 85

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Skills Investment vs Placement

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Decoding Jobs – Think Tank Piece

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INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020 87
88 INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2020