'Demand in the world, availability in India': Jaishankar emphasises the need to upgrade Indian talent

External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar said India has entered a cycle of sustainable talent creation, emphasising the need to pay attention to the opportunities beyond borders. On Tuesday, Jaishankar gave a keynote address at the launch ceremony of the Global Access to Talent from India (GATI) Foundation. The non-profit foundation is dedicated to building structured, ethical, and circular pathways for global talent mobility.

At the start of his address, the external affairs minister noted that India is currently facing two realities. “Let us start with our current state of development, there are two realities that stand up. One, is that in the past, we have not developed and therefore not leveraged our human resources to the extent we could and should, and the other is that it is not feasible for India to develop rapidly by emulating the pathway of other successful Asian economies, the drivers of our good are different, as is indeed the landscape,” he said.

Jaishankar emphasised that India will now focus on nurturing the talent, expanding, deploying, and upgrading talent." He mentioned that currently, 34 million Indians are working abroad and third of them are in Gulf countries.

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“Indians have also developed, by now, a strong history of employment and exploration abroad. As a result, there are techies, entrepreneurs and professionals in the United States, the blue-collar and the self-employed and the agreed sector in Europe and North America, as well as the scientists and researchers in so many other countries, many global professionals like seafaring airlines and the hospitality sector have already tapped into our human resources in civil society,” he explained.

‘There is demand in the world and availability in India’: Jaishankar

In his speech, Jaishankar said that India is looking to amend the Emigration Act of 1983 to meet the growing demand in the international arena. “There is demand in the world and there is availability. “We need to be more promotional and aware of new possibilities, even while taking care of the vulnerable. This issue is currently being examined by the government,” he said.

The EAM also described different economies as different colours. With Orange being the creator economy, Green and Brown - the renewable and agriculture sector, White and Silver - the healthcare sector. He also spoke about the need to stay away from the black economy, insisting that “legal mobility discourages illegal mobility.”

Jaishankar emphasised that in the last decade, the world has seen the need for quick evacuation from conflict zones. “Our citizens expect a quick resolution,” he said. However, he ended his address in an optimistic way. “The magnitude and opportunities are so large. India moves up to third third-largest economy, much of it will be people-centric,” he concluded.

Jaishankar was the chief guest at the launch event of the GATI foundation. The event was also attended by Shri. Jayant Chaudhary, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education, attended as the Guest of Honour. The foundation is incubated by the Convergence Foundation, Manish Sabharwal, and the Godrej Foundation.

“This mission gains urgency amid projections that high-income economies will face a labour shortage of 45–50 million skilled and semi-skilled workers by 2030. With a vision to position India as a global hub for skilled talent, GATI Foundation aims to foster collaboration between governments, businesses, and non-profits to unlock opportunities for Indian workers in international labour markets,” the foundation said in its press release.