Arvind Virmani backs public-private partnership, greater CSR spend to improve skilling

Arvind Virmani

Public-private partnership is critical to improve skilling in India, Arvind Virmani, Member, NITI Aayog said on November 11, adding that a greater share of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds should be allocated for this purpose.

According to a report by CSRBOX, 301 leading Indian companies spent Rs 14,000 crore on CSR activities in 2023-24, with a majority of the sum spent on education (18%), followed by environment & sustainability, and vocational skill development (13% each).

Virmani said skilling is essential to take advantage of India’s large working population, and private sector’s collaboration with government is necessary. He was speaking at a CII Conference on Jobs & Future of Work.

"There are only 10-15 countries in the world which have grown above 6 percent consistently for 25 years. A lot of work has to be done," he said, adding that skilling is key to achieving growth if India intends to become a developed nation by 2047.

At present, about 600 million Indians are within the age bracket of 15-35 years. "In the coming year, China, US, Japan and other major economies would be seeing a huge decline in working age population… only India will witness a small increase," said the former chief economic advisor.

In terms of education, by 2050, India will have highest number of workers in the world with secondary and tertiary education, said Virmani. "Jobs and skilling are two sides of the same coin."

CII also unveiled the ‘India Skills Report 2026’, which showed that employability in India has improved to 56.35 percent in 2025, with howing consistent progress in job readiness and skill adaptability. Around 1,000 companies were surveyed for the report.

Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities such as Lucknow, Kochi, and Chandigarh are emerging as strong employability hubs, narrowing the urban-rural skill gap, the report said.

Going forward, organizations have projected an average 40% of new positions in FY27, representing a steady demand for fresh talent and signalling continued expansion compared to this year’s overall hiring intent increase in 29%.

“The replacement versus new hire ratio shows that 60% of planned hires are replacement positions while 40% are new roles, reflecting workforce optimization alongside growth strategies,” the report said.