New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- The government is targeting the skilling of workforce in tier-II and tier-III cities, with a focus on labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, small-scale enterprises, tourism and medical tourism, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech on Sunday.

A high-level committee will be set up to examine skill gaps across industries, assess the impact of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), on jobs, and upgrade education curricula with an understanding of AI in mind, she said.

The Economic Survey 2025-26 pointed to a gap between skilling efforts and labour-market outcomes. "The central challenge in India's skilling landscape is not the absence of training effort but the weak ...