The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has suggested a seven-point agenda to the Finance Ministry for the Union Budget-2025.
It said that the upcoming annual budget for FY26 could announce further measures to boost employment generation, and emphasised that job creation at a mass scale is important to engage the young population productively, and drive inclusive growth in the world’s most populous nation.
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Its seven-point agenda included an integrated national employment policy, support to labour-intensive sectors, and setting up an international mobility authority, among other targeted measures.
The CII said the government could consider launching an internship programme in government offices in rural areas for the college-educated youth.
It argued that this initiative would create short-term employment opportunities in government offices while bridging the gap between education and professional skills.
The industry body proposed introducing a new provision under income tax rule in lieu of Section 80JJAA to encourage new employment. The new provision should continue as Chapter VIA deduction from gross total income, which is available even if a taxpayer opts for concessional tax regime.
It has proposed an integrated national employment policy which could subsume under its ambit the slew of employment generating schemes currently in works by various ministries/states.
In addition, the unified policy could also build on the single integrated employment portal — National Career Service (NCS) — wherein all the data can flow into this from various ministries and state portals.
The CII said that increasing women’s participation in the workforce can further boost the Indian economy, and new initiatives including the construction of dormitories using CSR funds, formalisation of sectors like care economy, among others can be done.
It said rolling out labour codes while ensuring social security coverage to the gig and platform workers would further strengthen the employment landscape.
