Lok Sabha Question No. 350 (STARRED), answered on 2025-08-18
Subject: Employability of Indian Graduates
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Gaurav Gogoi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 350 ANSWERED ON 18.08.2025

## Employability of Indian Graduates

## *350.   Shri Gaurav Gogoi:

Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that only 42.6 per cent of Indian graduates are employable as per Graduate Skill Index 2025; (b) the steps taken by the Government to address the low employability rate despite various skill development initiatives; (c)  whether  the  Government  proposes  any  measures  to  improve  non-technical  skills  for  recent graduates, if so, the details thereof; (d) whether the Government is planning to increase employability in emerging sectors such as AI, cyber security and renewable energy; and (e)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  timeline  or  roadmap  to  improve  employability  rates

- including the key focus areas in the next five years?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (e)  of  LOK  SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  350  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  18.08.2025  ASKED  BY HON'BLE  MEMBER  OF  PARLIAMENT  SHRI  GAURAV  GOGOI  REGARDING EMPLOYABILITY OF INDIAN GRADUATES.

(a)  to  (e):  The  official  data  on  Employment  and  Unemployment  is  collected  through  Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which is conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) since 2017-18.

As per the latest  available  Annual  PLFS reports, the estimated Unemployment Rate (UR), on usual status for persons of age 15 years and above has decreased from 6% in 2017-18 to 3.2% in 2023-24. The details are available in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) reports, which may be seen at:

https://www.mospi.gov.in/download-reports?main\_cat=ODU5&cat=All&sub\_category=All

Government of India launched National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 with an aim for holistic development of students. NEP aims to transform and enhance the quality of education across the country  with  an  objective  to  establish  an  education  system  that  is  inclusive,  equitable,  and  of high  quality,  empowering  learners  to  meet  future  challenges  and  contribute  to  national development.

NEP lays emphasis on integrating skill development with mainstream education by embedding vocational  and  practical  skills  across  school  and  higher  education,  removing  hard  separations between vocational and academic streams.

To enhance employability of the students and achieve the objectives of NEP 2020, University Grants  Commission  (UGC)  has  issued  the  National  Credit  Framework  (NCrF),  enabling integration  of  Skill  Education  into  academia.  It  also  enables  credit  accumulation  through diversified  domains  such  as  Skill  Enhancement  Courses,  Value  Addition  Courses,  Ability Enhancement Courses alongwith Internships and Projects. The NCrF also has a provision for the accumulation  of  a  maximum  of  50%  of  the  total  credit  required  through  skill-based  courses. These provisions have enabled Higher Educational Institutions to provide relevant knowledge to the students, making them industry ready.

Further,  UGC  has  formulated  guidelines  for  the  introduction  of  Apprenticeship  Embedded Degree Programmes to be offered by Higher Education Institutions to provide practical exposure during the course of study expected with the aim to enhanced competencies of the graduates and the employment thereof.

UGC  also  introduced  'Guidelines  for  Internship/Research  Internship  for  Under  Graduate Students' in  February  2024,  with  an  aim  to  improve  employability  and  develop  interest  for research.

To achieve the objectives of NEP 2020 and ensure availability of industry relevant knowledge to students of technical students, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has taken several steps including:

-  Model  Curriculum  in  areas  such  as  Artificial  Intelligence,  Data  Science,  Space Technology, Electronic Engineering (VLSI Design and Technology), Robotics and Artificial Intelligence etc. Due representation of Industry stakeholders is ensured in the curriculum revision committees.
-  Memoranda  of  Understanding  (MoU)  with  leading  industries  and  organisations have  been  signed  to  facilitate  internship,  skilling  and  upskilling  of  students  and faculty members.
-  Issued model internship guidelines for technical courses. Internship is mandatory component  of  Model  Curriculum  issued  by  AICTE  for  different  courses.  These guidelines provide internship in full-time or part-time.
-  Industry Academia Mobility framework launched by AICTE to facilitate connect between theoretical knowledge and practical application, facilitating collaboration between academia and industry.
-  In  order  to  promote  innovation  and  entrepreneurship,  over 16,000  Institution Innovation  Councils  (IICs) have  been  established  across  the  country,  engaging more than 1 lakh faculty members and 1.5 lakh students in innovation and entrepreneurial activities.
-  AICTE's  KAPILA  initiative  (Kalam  Program  for  IP  Literacy  and  Awareness) provide's financial assistance and generates awareness among HEIs to encourage patent filing. KAPILA Funded more than 10,000 Patents.

The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with IIT Madras and eminent Industry Partners, have launched the SWAYAM Plus platform on 27th February 2024. The platform offers high-quality learning and certification programs in partnership with leading industry and academic experts to students/  learners,  helping  them  reskill,  upskill,  and  become  employment-ready.  These  courses also  include  domains  such  as  media,  communication,  and  soft  skills,  aimed  at  enhancing  nontechnical competencies to improve employability. The Ministry of Education and IIT Madras have signed more than 65 MoUs with the leading industry partners. As of 25th July 2025, more than 400 Courses in 16 different sectors are available on the platform, and more than 3 lakh learners have enrolled for their Skill augmentation.

The  Ministry  of  Education  also  implements  the  National  Apprenticeship  Training  Scheme (NATS)  to  impart  on-the-job  training  and  enhance  the  employability  of  youth.  In  the  last  5 financial  years,  i.e.  from  FY  2020-21  to  2024-25,  the  NATS  scheme  has  engaged  12.94  lakh apprentices. For FY 2024-25, over 5.23 lakh apprentices have been engaged.

The  Ministry  of  Labour  and  Employment,  Government  of  India,  operates  the  National  Career Service (NCS) Portal which is a one-stop solution for providing career related services including jobs from private and government sectors, information on online & offline job fairs, job search &

matching,  career  counselling,  vocational  guidance,  information  on  skill  development  courses, skill/training programmes etc. through a digital platform [www.ncs.gov.in]

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