The Future of the Indian Workforce: A New Approach for the New Economy

India is at a crossroads. It has the largest young workforce anywhere in the world, and is the fastest growing economy today. At the same time, the economy is not creating enough jobs, and therefore not fully harnessing its “demographic dividend” in preparation for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. To create more and better jobs , cert ain f u n d a m e n t a l r e a l i t i e s n e e d t o b e r e c o g n i s e d — t h e u n t a p p e d oppo rtun itie s in the serv ices sect or, the impe rati ves of poli cy and regu lato ry stab ilit y, and the welf are need s of a new work forc e. Afte r brie fly anal ysin g the supp ly-s ide cont ext (the char acte rist ics of the so- call ed “dem ogra phic divi dend ”), this pape r outl ines a basi c stra tegi c road map for the dema nd side with a focu s on cons titu ents of the new econ omy (the indu stri es that will have to gene rate new empl oyme nt). It concludes with recommendations that can help bridge supply-side gaps, and demand-side imperatives.