Focus on skilling, creating a digital university, investment in infrastructure and meeting global demands.

Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India, Nirmala Sitharam announced an increase of 11.86 percent in the education budget 2022, along with initiatives to ensure education is accessible and affordable to everyone. The announcement also that ‘Make In India’ can provide millions of jobs, while emphasising the need to invest on skill development and building infrastructure. These initiatives, if executed Properly can create many blue-collar and white-collar jobs. 

Viswanath PS, MD & CEO, Randstad India, commended the announcement for addressing the employment need of the nation. He states, “You always need an ambition, then get your direction right and then you need to accelerate.” Commenting further that the budget announcement ensures that there is something for everyone, with the infrastructure projects, the blue-collar sector will see demand, along with the PLI Scheme; task force on AVCG to help serve global market demands and a strong focus on MSMEs. 

Sashi Kumar, Head Sales, Indeed.com commented that the budget focused on the right areas, “government enabling the creating of six million jobs, investment on infrastructure always spurs huge employment, and focus on skill development are all steps in the right direction.” Kumar adds that this has been a great start of the year for fresh graduates, citing that 86 percent companies are hiring freshers, a positive step towards reducing youth unemployment and skill building for graduates beginning their careers. 

Sidharrth Shankar, Equity Partner, JSA pointed out that while the announcement indicates that  “it will definitely create jobs, there is a lot to be done on the education side.” Shankar elaborated that the implementation NEP 2020 needed to be fat tracked, for-profit education opened up, issues of device shortages across the country, availability and access to the internet needed to be addressed, and while the fine print remained to be seen, there was nothing spoken on EdTech, an important aspect of post pandemic education. 

Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com added that from an investment perspective the budget announcement met with expectation. Furthermore, that while the government is on the right direction, the execution of the plans remains to be seen. However, “once the government starts putting this into the mainstream conversation, good things are bound are to happen, for example accepting that a digital currency exists is a step in the right direction, AVCG, DESH-Stack, etc. are all starting the right conversations.” 

The Union Budget 2022 announcement is only the first step to achieving quality and accessible education and employment across the board. While FM Nirmala Sitharam has addressed several pressing concerns regarding skilling and long-term employment, the official document and moreover, the execution of these plans will ultimately determine the outcome and remains to be seen.