The Ministry of Labour and Employment has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with tech major Microsoft to expand employment linkages, scale AI-led skilling, and prepare India’s workforce for global opportunities.
The MoU has been signed in the presence of Labour and Employment and Youth Affairs & Sports, Mansukh Mandaviya and CEO, Microsoft, Satya Nadella.
PIB stated that this collaboration is aimed at encouraging over 15,000 employers and partners from its extensive international network onto the Ministry’s National Career Service (NCS) platform.
This is expected to significantly broaden formal job access, support high-growth sectors, and enable India to develop a skilled workforce not only for domestic demand but also for the world, strengthening pathways for international mobility of Indian professionals and youth.
The two sides also aim to expand AI-driven skilling initiatives through DigiSaksham, equipping millions of young people with future-ready capabilities in AI, cloud technologies, cybersecurity, and productivity tools. Through this, the ministry expects to build a workforce aligned with global standards and emerging industry needs.
“India has achieved a historic milestone in social protection, with coverage rising from 19% in 2015 to an impressive 64.3% in 2025, benefiting over 94 crore citizens. By embedding AI into platforms like e-Shram and the National Career Service, we are fortifying social security and moving closer to our goal of social protection to 100 crore citizens by March 2026,” Mandaviya said.
Further, Nadella praised the e-Shram initiative for bringing millions of unorganised workers into the social protection net and strengthening India’s ability to design worker-centric policies based on real-time data.
The ministry claimed that the MoU will help leverage Microsoft’s partner ecosystem to widen employer outreach and enhance NCS adoption among industry, training partners, and institutions.
