Among the G20 nations, India has been lagging behind in terms of employment generation and the country needs to create 148 million more jobs by 2030 in order to keep pace with population growth.

This was part of a speech made by the IMF‘s First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath at the Delhi School of Economics Diamond Jubilee event on Saturday August 17. According to Gopinath, India grew, on average, at 6.6 per cent for the decade starting 2010, yet employment grew below 2 per cent.

“So, India’s employment rate is much less when compared to other G20 nations,” she said.

“If you look at India’s projections in terms of population growth, India will have to create anywhere between 60 million to 148 million additional jobs cumulatively between now and 2030… we are already in 2024, so in a short period of time we have to create a lot of jobs.”

Given the scale of what is needed in India’s employment market in order to keep pace with population growth, it is going to require fundamental reforms including land reforms and the implementation of labour codes.

Gita Gopinath believes that to generate more jobs there is a need for an increase in private investment, as public investment alone is not commensurate with 7 per cent growth in GDP.

Gopinath added: “Public investment is going well but private investment has to improve.”

She also said that India should revamp its education system so that it can improve the skill sets of its workforce.

“In addition,” she said, “there is a need to make it easier for companies to do business, improve the regulatory environment and broaden the tax base.”

At the time of writing, the population of the India sits at approximately 1.442 billion, a 36 per cent increase since 2000. The fertility rate (average number of births per mother) is currently at 1.98.

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