The India Skills Report 2026:
The India Skills Report 2026 shows India’s employability rate rising to 56.35% (from 54.81%), signalling a rapid improvement in how “job-ready” the youth are.
- The India Skills Report 2026 is an annual nationwide assessment of India’s workforce readiness, prepared by ETS, CII, AICTE, AIU and Taggd, based on surveys of students, recent graduates and employers across key sectors.
- Aim:
- To measure employability and skill gaps across education streams, sectors and regions.
- To map emerging trends in AI, gig work, digital fluency and hiring patterns.
- To help policymakers, academia and industry align curricula, training and recruitment with the demands of the future of work.
Highligts:
- Overall employability has increased to 56.35% (from ~54.8%), almost a 10-percentage point jump in about 4 years, indicating more youth are job-ready and aligned with industry needs.
- Women: 54% vs Men: 51.5% – first time in years that women’s employability overtakes men’s, especially in BFSI, education, healthcare and in Tier-2/Tier-3 cities.
- Computer Science (80%) and IT engineers (78%) top employability metrics, driven by roles in AI, data analytics, automation, cloud, cybersecurity.
India already holds a significant share of global AI talent, and AI tools are widely used in recruitment and daily work. - Industry and institutions are converging through micro-credentials, stackable certificates and experiential learning, moving towards a “skills-first” hiring culture, not just degree-based recruitment.
- Gig hiring grew ~38%, and gigs now form around 16% of all jobs, with the gig workforce projected to reach tens of millions by 2030, giving workers more flexibility and diversified income streams.
- Around 92.8% of students seek internships or hands-on exposure, especially high in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, reflecting demand for real-world learning and industry projects.
- Companies plan to hire 40% more people next year (up from 29%).
- IT sector leads fresher hiring at 35% (vs 14% cross-industry last year), followed by BFSI, manufacturing, pharma/healthcare, FMCG.
- Commerce grads: employability up to 62.81% (from 55%) – driven by BFSI & fintech.
- Science: ~61%, Arts: ~55.55% – benefitting from digital and interdisciplinary roles.
- ITI: 45.95% (up from 41%) and polytechnic: 32.92% – showing gradual success of vocational skilling.
