New Delhi: The employability of Indian graduates has grown by over 13 percentage points since 2014 even as it has stagnated in the last three years, said a new government report released Tuesday.
According to the India Skills Report 2020, the figure is projected to dip marginally in the next fiscal.
The report looks at the readiness of graduates for new-age jobs, job types and the skills employers are seeking in prospective employees. It has been prepared by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), Confederation of Indian Industry, along with private partners Wheebox and PeopleStrong.
According to the report, the employability of Indian graduates across various sectors rose from 33.95 per cent in 2014-15 to 47.31 per cent in the last fiscal. It is expected to slip to 46.21 per cent in 2020-21.
The report said MBA graduates are the most employable — at 54 per cent — among others, including B.Tech, BA, B.Com, B.Pharma, B.Sc, ITI, MCA and Polytechnic.
MCA graduates are expected to be the least employable at 25 per cent.
Tamil Nadu will have the highest hiring among all states in fiscal 2021, followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra, it added.
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Stagnation
While India Skills Report 2020 mentioned that employability of graduates has gone up since 2014, it said stagnation was seen in the last three years, lingering around 46 per cent.
“The state of employability has not improved over the last few years, implying the need for more robust actions,” the report noted.
However, the report predicted that sectors like e-commerce and banking, financial services and insurance are expected to ramp up their hiring.
“Watching this trend, it can be expected that the significant employability of graduates in MBAs, BA and B.Com courses will well serve as the resource supply pool for these sectors,” the report has predicted.
Methodology
The skills which employers seem to emphasise while screening candidates are domain knowledge, adaptability to the environment, learning agility and positive attitude.
Job portals, professional network and social media, and internal referrals stood out as the topmost channels used for finding the right talent.
Further, about 50 per cent of employers acknowledge the role of government initiated programmes in recruitments, of which almost 9 in 10 employers admit that candidates meet their requirements.
“The report provides insights into the present state and future expectations of the supply and demand side of the talent value chain. On one hand, the employability of students is measured to understand their readiness for the available jobs and on the other hand, the demand preferences of the employers are highlighted.
“The amalgamation of the two perspectives gives a complete picture and emphasizes the most prominent gaps in the ecosystem and indicates the possible way forward,” said AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabuddhe.
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