A national employment initiative titled Hundred Million Jobs has been launched in India with the ambitious goal of creating 10 crore jobs over the next decade, as the country seeks to align rapid economic growth with large-scale employment generation.
The mission brings together leading voices from India’s technology, entrepreneurship, and public policy ecosystems to address what has emerged as one of the country’s most pressing challenges — ensuring that economic expansion translates into dignified and sustainable livelihoods. With India adding nearly 12 million people to its working-age population every year, the need to generate 8–9 million jobs annually has become critical to fully harness the nation’s demographic dividend.
The initiative places entrepreneurship at the centre of India’s employment strategy, recognising startups, MSMEs, and small enterprises as the largest drivers of job creation. These sectors already contribute significantly to India’s GDP and employment base, but structural barriers have limited their ability to scale job creation, particularly in smaller towns and districts.
The mission acknowledges that traditional employment pathways are under pressure as automation and artificial intelligence reshape industries and reduce entry-level roles across manufacturing and services. This shift, while challenging, is also seen as an opportunity to build new job-intensive sectors driven by innovation, skills, and local enterprise.
Hundred Million Jobs adopts a systems-based approach that integrates skill development, enterprise support, data-driven decision-making, and policy alignment. Its framework aims to strengthen job creators rather than focusing solely on job seekers, enabling employment to grow in a more distributed and resilient manner across regions.
Leaders behind the initiative have emphasised that India’s employment challenge cannot be solved through isolated interventions. Instead, job creation must become a central objective of economic policy, embedded across business strategies and governance frameworks.
Structured as a collaborative platform, the mission seeks active participation from industry, civil society, and government to ensure long-term impact. By prioritising dignified, scalable, and inclusive employment, Hundred Million Jobs aims to redefine how India measures development — not just by growth figures, but by the quality and reach of livelihoods created.
