Despite a rapidly expanding ecosystem of skilling platforms, certifications and government-led initiatives, India continues to grapple with a stubborn paradox. Millions of young people are completing training programmes each year, yet employers across sectors struggle to find job-ready talent. The disconnect between academic output and workplace requirements is particularly acute at the entry and mid-skill levels, where the bulk of India’s workforce is concentrated.
To examine this challenge, ETHRWorld, in collaboration with the Wadhwani Foundation, hosted an exclusive roundtable on Bridging the Employability Gap: Aligning Academia, Skills and Industry Demand in India. Senior HR leaders and skilling experts came together to discuss what it will take to create an employment-ready workforce, why soft skills are often the missing piece, and how academia, industry and government can collaborate more effectively.
The Wadhwani Foundation framed the session with its mission: employability must be measured not by course completion, but by the ability of individuals to secure sustainable livelihoods.
The paradox of abundance without readiness
“India has a huge talent pool, but how much of it is employable, that is the problem,” said Shipra Malhotra, Editor – Special Initiatives, ETB2B, in her opening remarks. She noted that while entry- and mid-level roles make up the majority of India’s workforce demand, these are precisely the areas where skill deficits are most acute, especially in soft skills such as communication, adaptability and client engagement.
Employers echoed her concern. Jhilmil Varsha of S.S. Medical Systems pointed to engineers who master machinery but stumble in front of clients: “They lack in communication, in cross-selling, in presenting themselves. Even when we try to upskill them, they say, ‘My job is technical, I will just do that.’”
Sunil Dahiya, Executive Vice President at the Wadhwani Foundation, underlined that these gaps are not anecdotal but systemic: “Client-facing communication is an issue. Collaboration skills are an issue. Work ethic, learning agility, lifelong learning, these are all critical gaps we see today.” He added that employers often make up their minds about a candidate in the first few minutes of an interview. “Within seven minutes, you can tell if someone will be rejected. The successful candidate shows confidence, curiosity and clarity, while others struggle to answer even basic questions.”
Government admits the disconnect
Narendra Bhooshan, Additional Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, who oversees energy, renewable energy and technical education, acknowledged that the industry-academia link remains weak. Despite the state operating hundreds of polytechnics, tens of thousands of seats go vacant every year.
“We are talking about skilling not being enough, but on the other side, there are no takers,” Bhooshan said. “Curriculum reform is urgent. When I was an engineer, I was still reading about vacuum tubes when the world had moved to chips. That disconnect persists”.
Bhooshan said the state is now experimenting with partnerships, such as with Tata Technologies, which will invest in upgrading 121 government polytechnics with Industry 4.0 labs, to make graduates more employable.
For many companies, the skills gap translates into expensive in-house training programmes.
At Tata Motors’ Lucknow plant, HR head Jasneet Rakhra described how the automaker trains diploma holders and ITI graduates through multi-year programmes before offering them to its dealer and vendor networks. Yet scaling remains a challenge: “Whenever we recruit from Lucknow and around, the quality is good. But when we go outside to fill numbers, the quality is not there.”
Others highlighted retention as the hidden cost of bridging the gap. Deepak Mishra of CP Milk & Food Products said the dairy sector invests heavily in training but often loses skilled workers to bigger brands like Amul or Mother Dairy once they are job-ready.
In aviation, Mugdha Mishra of Adani Airport Holdings said the challenge is even more acute: “To train one person in inline security screening costs about two lakh rupees. And then, after you invest, they leave.”
A shift from degrees to skills
Several leaders agreed that degrees are fast losing currency. “Ultimately, degree is just a piece of paper,” said Apollo Hospitals’ HR head Deepak Sachdeva. “After two years of working, no one asks where you studied. It’s your skills that matter”.
Yet skills-based hiring is still far from universal practice. Many companies confessed they avoid hiring freshers for supervisory roles because training them is too costly, while students themselves often lack career clarity.
The Wadhwani Foundation’s bet on AI
Against this backdrop, the Wadhwani Foundation is attempting to create a technology-driven bridge. Its AI-powered skilling platform offers ITI and polytechnic students free access to soft-skills training, career guidance and personalised tools like “My Tutor” and “My Interview Coach.”
“Jobs will not be created at scale by the government alone,” said Gaurav Saini, CHRO of the Foundation. “Start-ups, MSMEs and employers need ready talent. Our role is to reduce the employability gap, not just eligibility.”
Dahiya added that the Foundation’s focus is deliberately on the “next tier” of students: “Our target segment is not the cream. It is Class 9 to 12, polytechnics, tier-2 and tier-3 colleges, and dropouts. That’s where we want to spend our philanthropic dollars.”
He also emphasised that these initiatives are provided free of cost: “This is absolutely free for students and absolutely free for employers. The only thing we ask for is your time and involvement with us.” Dahiya invited participants to join the Foundation’s growing Advisory Council, noting that the roundtable series is building momentum across the country. “We don’t want to end this conversation here. We want you to be part of our advisory council as well. With every roundtable, from Lucknow to Vijayawada, the idea is to bring in more local organisations and ensure their voices are heard.”
The Foundation recently signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government to build an AI-era skilling hub in Vijayawada, training both students and civil servants in generative AI, drones and other emerging technologies.
What emerged most forcefully from the roundtable was the need for systemic collaboration. Employers called for earlier engagement with students, internships from the first semester, and industry-designed curricula. Government officials invited companies to adopt local polytechnics. HR leaders stressed embedding soft skills into training from day one.
Dahiya summed up the sentiment: “Soft skills are required everywhere. Empathy in healthcare is very different from empathy in retail, but both are essential. Unless academia, government and industry work together to embed these capabilities, the employability paradox will persist.”
India’s demographic dividend, the group agreed, risks becoming a liability if the disconnect between education and employment persists. But with government, academia, employers and enablers all pulling in the same direction, the possibility remains that the paradox of abundance without readiness can finally be resolved.
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