Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman encouraged the HR industry to reduce the skill gap in employees and not spend up to six months training employees who are hired for being “qualified.”
“You recruit someone whom you think is qualified, but then you spend six to eight months to actually prepare them for the job. We need not do that,” Sitharaman explained during the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM) symposium in New Delhi.
Sitharaman claimed that the mismatch between academic qualifications and job-readiness was undermining productivity while also slowing India’s growth ambitions. In a bid to rectify this, she urged HR professionals to work more closely with government and educational institutions to align training with the realities of the workplace.
During her address, Sitharaman stated that many employers believe that fresh graduates often lack practical skills despite the degree in hand, which leads to costly onboarding programmes and unproductive delays.
“Industry cannot afford to waste six to eight months preparing new recruits when they should be effective from day one,” Sitharaman added.
Urging HR to shorten the transition period from education to employment, Sitharaman emphasised the need for structured collaboration among companies, MSMEs, and policymakers to ensure that training pipelines produce job-ready talent.
“We have an advantage of demographic dividend, but we have to provide them the right skills,” Sitharaman emphasised.
The minister highlighted the strides made by the government towards modernising skill development. She shared that Industrial Training Institutes across 750 districts in India are being upgraded, while specialised hubs for artificial intelligence training are being created. The Union Budget also proposed AI-driven skilling programmes to prepare young people for technology-intensive roles.
Sitharaman also directed the attention of the audience towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s track record of responding to corporate demands, asking industries to invest more aggressively in capacity expansion. She shared her belief that the environment was conducive to investment and that hesitation from business should not delay India’s economic momentum.
“Engagement between government and industry should be ongoing through the year and not just before the budget,” stated Sitharaman.
