If you look at the demographics of the world, one finds that those countries that are the richest in terms of the GDP per capita today, actually have a shortage of the human capital that they need to be able to sustain the economic growth. If you see the map, where the concentration of human capital sits in our country. Here is the opportunity. Could the people of India be the source of competitive advantage? One of the main reasons for the boom of IT and ITES in India was the availability of trained professionals. When talent became scarce and cost of hiring increased, companies began demanding that the government solve the situation. They were under the impression that talent availability and readiness was the government’s responsibility. If you see, any industry that requires raw material to grow, will invest and innovate to get the required raw material. In the same way, oil companies need to innovate on the ways to source their raw material. Industry should also take charge of talent as part of their own supply chain*.

*Timesjobs & Economic Times Annual Skills Summit, Delhi, 2011