India & WEF Launch Skills Accelerator for Future Jobs

10 Apr 2025 CW Team

The initiative will serve as a national platform for public-private collaboration to close skill gaps, promote innovation, and drive structural reforms in skilling. It will focus on increasing awareness of future skill demands, encouraging partnerships among stakeholders, and updating policies to build a more adaptive and inclusive skilling ecosystem.

With 65% of organisations identifying skill gaps as a barrier, the Accelerator aims to enable reskilling and upskilling, align education with industry needs, and support agile career transitions—particularly in areas like AI, robotics, and energy.

The governance of the Accelerator includes both government and industry leaders. The platform is co-led by Minister of State Jayant Chaudhary and Dr Sukanta Majumdar, along with industry co-chairs Shobana Kamineni of Apollo HealthCo and Sanjiv Bajaj of Bajaj Finserv.

Chaudhary described the Accelerator as a catalyst for systemic transformation and said India is uniquely positioned to become the “Skill Capital of the World” thanks to its youth population and expanding skilling ecosystem. He also highlighted the need to prioritize sectors such as advanced manufacturing and formalization of the informal economy.

Dr Majumdar emphasized the need to embed global competitiveness in India’s skill architecture and noted that India is skilling not only for domestic needs but for global demand. He pointed to the National Education Policy’s flexibility and focus on vocational and digital pathways as examples of reform.

WEF’s Managing Director Saadia Zahidi praised the initiative as a vital step in preparing India’s workforce for a fast-changing global job market and expressed confidence in its large-scale impact.

Experts at the roundtable discussed identifying 10–12 high-impact priorities, forming sector-based working groups, and aligning the initiative with WEF’s Future of Jobs 2025 report. Participants included leaders from MSDE, WEF, NSDC, NCVET, DGT, and various educational bodies such as UGC, AICTE, NCERT, and CBSE.

In a move to advance India’s workforce readiness, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF), discussed the launch of the “India Skills Accelerator” during a roundtable at Kaushal Bhawan in New Delhi. The initiative will serve as a national platform for public-private collaboration to close skill gaps, promote innovation, and drive structural reforms in skilling. It will focus on increasing awareness of future skill demands, encouraging partnerships among stakeholders, and updating policies to build a more adaptive and inclusive skilling ecosystem. With 65% of organisations identifying skill gaps as a barrier, the Accelerator aims to enable reskilling and upskilling, align education with industry needs, and support agile career transitions—particularly in areas like AI, robotics, and energy. The governance of the Accelerator includes both government and industry leaders. The platform is co-led by Minister of State Jayant Chaudhary and Dr Sukanta Majumdar, along with industry co-chairs Shobana Kamineni of Apollo HealthCo and Sanjiv Bajaj of Bajaj Finserv. Chaudhary described the Accelerator as a catalyst for systemic transformation and said India is uniquely positioned to become the “Skill Capital of the World” thanks to its youth population and expanding skilling ecosystem. He also highlighted the need to prioritize sectors such as advanced manufacturing and formalization of the informal economy. Dr Majumdar emphasized the need to embed global competitiveness in India’s skill architecture and noted that India is skilling not only for domestic needs but for global demand. He pointed to the National Education Policy’s flexibility and focus on vocational and digital pathways as examples of reform. WEF’s Managing Director Saadia Zahidi praised the initiative as a vital step in preparing India’s workforce for a fast-changing global job market and expressed confidence in its large-scale impact. Experts at the roundtable discussed identifying 10–12 high-impact priorities, forming sector-based working groups, and aligning the initiative with WEF’s Future of Jobs 2025 report. Participants included leaders from MSDE, WEF, NSDC, NCVET, DGT, and various educational bodies such as UGC, AICTE, NCERT, and CBSE.

Infrastructure Urban

17 Sep 2025

DCPC Prepares for Special Campaign 5.0 with Focus on E-Waste

The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, is gearing up for Special Campaign 5.0, to be held from 2nd to 31st October 2025. The initiative will focus on e-waste disposal as per MoEFCC’s E-Waste Management Rules 2022, space optimisation, and enhancing workplace efficiency across field offices.Special Campaign 4.0, conducted between October 2023 and October 2024, delivered notable results in record management, grievance redressal, scrap disposal, and cleanliness drives.Key outcomes of Special Campaign 4.0Records management: 2,443 physical fil..

Real Estate

17 Sep 2025

BlackRock India Leases 1.4 Lakh Sq Ft in Bengaluru

BlackRock Services India, the domestic arm of global asset manager BlackRock, has leased 1.4 lakh sq ft of office space at IndiQube Symphony in Bengaluru, according to Propstack data. The 10-year deal is valued at around Rs 4.10 billion.The lease, among the largest transactions in India’s co-working sector, highlights the growing preference of global institutions for flexible office providers. The agreement, commencing October 1, 2025, covers ground plus five floors in KNG Tower 1 at Ashoknagar, MG Road — one of Bengaluru’s prime commercial hubs.As per the lease document, BlackRock will ..

Infrastructure Transport

17 Sep 2025

L&T Bags Rs 25–50 Bn Order for Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Track Works

Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) Transportation Infrastructure business has secured an order valued between Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 billion from the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor.The contract, Package T1, involves the design, supply, construction, testing, and commissioning of 156 route km of high-speed ballastless track on a Design-Build Lump Sum Price basis. The stretch runs from Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex to Zaroli village in Gujarat and includes 21 km of underground track and 135 km of elevated viaduct.Se..