India’s education system is facing a significant mismatch between the degrees students earn and the skills employers require, with only 8.25% of graduates employed in roles aligned with their qualifications, according to a recent Niti Aayog paper. The report, titled Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat @2047, cites the Economic Survey 2024-25 for the figure.
The findings suggest that India’s challenge is no longer limited to unemployment. A deeper concern is whether higher education is preparing students for actual employment, entrepreneurship and other career pathways.
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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also raised concerns over the employability of graduates. In an interview with The Indian Express, she argued that many conventional courses do not adequately prepare students for jobs or entrepreneurship. Her remarks closely mirror Niti Aayog’s assessment of the disconnect between education and the labour market.
Degrees Without Clear Career Pathways
Niti Aayog describes India’s higher and technical education system as having a “fundamental disconnect” between classroom learning and labour-market requirements. Outdated curricula and insufficient alignment with industry needs mean that degrees, diplomas and certificates do not always translate into employability.
The scale of India’s generic-degree ecosystem makes the issue particularly important. Of the 3.4 crore students enrolled in undergraduate programmes, 1.13 crore are pursuing Bachelor of Arts degrees. Combined enrolment in BA, BSc and BCom programmes exceeds two crore. According to Niti Aayog, these courses often have weak links with employment, with some students pursuing them partly because they provide eligibility for government recruitment.
The problem is not that degrees such as BA, BCom or BSc have no value. Rather, graduates may complete these programmes without gaining a clear set of workplace skills. Niti Aayog notes that even entry-level jobs can require practical abilities such as accounting software and office applications.
Practical Experience Remains a Major Gap
The report also highlights what students themselves identify as shortcomings. About 34% cite a lack of skills as a key problem, while 18% point to inadequate interview preparation. More strikingly, 80% of learners identify a lack of practical experience and industry exposure as a major gap in their education.
This gap can leave graduates with theoretical knowledge but limited workplace capability. A commerce graduate, for instance, may understand accounting concepts but lack experience with professional software, while a political science graduate may know political theory without practical exposure to research, policy analysis or public affairs.
Why Government Jobs Remain Attractive
The education-employment mismatch also helps explain the intense competition for government jobs. Niti Aayog notes that 1.86 crore applications were received for just 55,000 posts between November 2024 and July 2025.
Sitharaman has argued that the solution cannot simply be creating more government jobs. Instead, education should prepare young people for diverse options, including private employment, entrepreneurship, self-employment and family businesses.
Building a Bridge to Employment
Niti Aayog identifies practical learning, industry exposure and job-readiness support as key weaknesses. Many students also lack structured assistance with CV writing, mock interviews and job searches. Faculty may teach emerging subjects without sufficient industry experience, while inadequate infrastructure can limit practical learning.
Internships and apprenticeships could help bridge this gap, although the report cautions that they must provide meaningful hands-on learning rather than simply observational experience.
