Mumbai: Maharashtra’s existing skilling ecosystem, including the state’s Mahaswayam platform, could face a significant shift in focus following a new NITI Aayog report that calls for moving away from enrolment and certificate-based training towards programmes tied directly to employment, wages and career progression.
The report, Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047, released in August 2026, says India has trained more than 7.67 crore people since 2014-15, while the Union Budget for 2025-26 allocated ₹34,000 crore towards skilling-related expenditure across Central ministries. Yet, NITI Aayog says outcomes remain uneven and the country's skilling architecture needs a fundamental overhaul.
The report places Maharashtra among states that have already developed significant skilling initiatives, specifically citing Mahaswayam alongside Tamil Nadu’s Naan Mudhalvan and Odisha’s Skilled in Odisha. It says states will be the primary drivers of the proposed transformation, adapting the national framework to local labour markets, infrastructure and learner needs.
65.4 crore in labour force, but 27 crore workers without social security
The scale of the challenge is reflected in the report's assessment of India's workforce. It estimates the country's labour force at 65.4 crore, with 58.4% self-employed, 21.7% regular wage employees and 19.8% casual labourers.
The report separately identifies 7 crore non-agricultural workers with at least one social-security benefit, compared with 27 crore workers in jobs without any social-security benefit.
The report's five learner and worker segments — school students, tertiary learners, the formal and informal workforce, NEET youth and women — together represent around 60 crore people.
This includes 12 crore school students from Class 6 onwards and 4.4 crore tertiary learners, including degree, diploma and ITI students. Women cut across all these categories, with the report noting that only 3% of women are in formal jobs, while 71% are either in informal employment or in the NEET category.
For Maharashtra, the numbers underline the importance of extending skilling beyond conventional ITI and short-term training programmes to workers already in the labour market, particularly those in informal employment.
Maharashtra already has a skilling architecture
The report's Maharashtra reference is significant because the state already operates Mahaswayam, a platform intended to bring jobseekers, employers, industry and skilled youth onto a common platform.
Maharashtra also has a dedicated Skill Gap Analysis Report for FY 2023-24, published through the state's Skills, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department.
At the same time, the state is seeking greater private-sector participation in technical training. Mahaswayam currently carries an expression of interest for upgrading ITIs through a public-private partnership model, besides a vocational-training project under the MCGM in Mumbai.
The NITI Aayog report's recommendations therefore align with several initiatives already being pursued in Maharashtra, but propose taking them further through stronger industry participation and measurable employment outcomes.
From training numbers to jobs
One of the report's central recommendations is that standalone skilling programmes should no longer be judged primarily by how many people enrol or complete training.
Instead, programmes should be linked to verified outcomes such as job placement, wage gains or viable self-employment. NITI Aayog recommends outcome-linked financing, in which training providers have stronger incentives to deliver employment results.
This could prove particularly relevant for Maharashtra, where the state already has a large network of training institutions and employment-oriented schemes. The challenge would be to establish whether training translates into sustainable employment rather than simply increasing the number of certified candidates.
Schools to become the first skilling point
The report also recommends bringing skilling much earlier into the education system.
It notes that fewer than one in 12 secondary schools currently offers vocational subjects. NITI Aayog proposes General Employability and Entrepreneurship Skills from Class 6 to Class 12, followed by structured vocational “Kaushal Tracks” from Class 9.
For Maharashtra, this could mean a greater role for schools in exposing students to vocational careers before they enter ITIs, polytechnics or higher education.
The report envisages vocational education being aligned with local economic priorities, while allowing students to move between academic, vocational and employment pathways through the National Credit Framework.
Apprenticeships get a major push
NITI Aayog has also proposed making apprenticeships a mainstream route between education and employment.
The report says participation remains uneven, awareness is limited and opportunities are fragmented across multiple platforms. It recommends a unified state-led apprenticeship platform, greater participation by MSMEs and better alignment between apprenticeships and actual labour-market demand.
For Maharashtra's industrial and services economy, this could be an important area of implementation, particularly if colleges, ITIs and employers are brought into a common apprenticeship ecosystem.
Digital Skills Passport proposed
Another major recommendation is the creation of a Digital Skills Passport that would bring verified educational credentials, skills and work experience into a common digital record.
The report proposes linking this system with existing digital public infrastructure such as APAAR, the Skill India Digital Hub and the National Career Service. State-level skills registries could then connect training, employment and learner data.
The proposal could potentially make it easier for workers to demonstrate skills acquired outside conventional degrees or formal education — an important consideration in a labour market where a large share of workers remain outside formal employment.
The Maharashtra question
The central question for Maharashtra may therefore not be whether it needs another skilling programme, but whether its existing programmes can move towards the outcome-based model proposed by NITI Aayog.
The state already has Mahaswayam, a skill-gap study and initiatives aimed at upgrading ITIs and connecting training with employment. The NITI report now provides a broader framework in which states are expected to align training with local demand, expand apprenticeships, involve industry and measure success through employment and wage outcomes.
For Mumbai, the implications could be particularly visible in schools, colleges, ITIs and the city's large informal and services workforce. But the report itself does not provide Mumbai-specific skill-gap statistics, meaning the next reporting opportunity lies in comparing its national recommendations with Maharashtra's own skill-gap data and finding out whether the state's existing training programmes are actually translating into jobs.
• 7.67 crore+ — people formally trained since 2014-15.
• ₹34,000 crore — skilling-related expenditure allocated by Central ministries in FY2025-26.
• 65.4 crore — estimated labour force.
• 58.4% — self-employed workers.
• 21.7% — regular wage employees.
• 19.8% — casual labourers.
• 27 crore — non-agricultural workers in jobs without any social-security benefit.
• 12 crore — school students from Class 6 onwards.
• 4.4 crore — tertiary learners, including degree, diploma and ITI students.
• 3% — women in formal jobs, according to the report.
• 71% — women either in informal jobs or the NEET category.
• Fewer than 1 in 12 — secondary schools offering vocational subjects.
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