New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary urged businesses to step up by offering better pay for certified workers and shifting away from informal hiring practices, stating, "everyone understands our skilling gap -- young people are graduating, but we cannot hire them".

Speaking at the 16th FICCI Global Skills Summit, the minister likened the current gap in valuing certified workers to the early days of carbon pricing, where the absence of clear mechanisms delayed meaningful climate action. He called for a shift in how India values skilled labour. "Currently, we don't have a price for employability, for skilling," he said.

India is staring at a disconnect between formal education and employability, with policymakers and indus...