ISAS Working Papers

India seems to be facing multiple challenges in the skilling space: low employability of training programs, slower employment generation, low level of skilled workforce and overall quality of training infrastructure. There has been duplication of efforts at enhancing capacity for new skills over the years with more than 21 ministries, State governments, and other agencies running skills development programs with no commonly accepted standards and norms. These challenges become more prominent for a nation with more than 65% of the population below 35 years of age. The first skills development policy of 2009 institutionalized the skills training delivery in India by establishing a three-tier structure (National Skills Development Corporation was made responsible for operationalizing the efforts) and setting-up an ambitious target of training 500 million people by 2022.