Poverty has always been an issue in India and across the world. It can be reduced, but it can't be eradicated. This is life’s important fact. As the population is growing rapidly with people being unemployed and fighting for basic needs.
The major reasons are India’s core need for improvement. It needs to be the first priority and development measure. There have been multiple reasons for poverty, but in 2026, these 5 key sectors of productivity, manufacturing, skill gap, education and degrees and execution will play a pivotal role in the future.
Let's discuss one by one.
Low productivity is the first reason for less growth. When you compare China and Japan, our India’s productivity is less than theirs, but how ?
* Productivity is compared to the economic value you are providing for the time you spent on a particular task. In India, most of the workforce works in the agricultural sector and it is increasing every day. Agriculture is low productivity work and generates less income compared to other industries. Most of the farmers use traditional methods instead of modern tech-based systems. Therefore, other countries like China and Japan use labour forces in high productivity workplaces by transferring from low productivity work. GDP growth is not considered equal to productivity and economic growth.
* The manufacturing sector of India has low productivity and growth as most of the markets have been captured by China. During the late 1970s, this boom improved, but in India we were going through political turmoil and unstable protests. Weak and emerging rules and laws were the reasons we had to keep away from manufacturing. Imagine if tomatoes turned into Ketchup or any other food recipe. That sector would definitely increase its value and jobs. Following the same old patterns made us stay away from growth.
* Skill gap in India was never the reason. During the past, historically, many of India’s workforce were skilled and were totally dependent on skill-based work only. It was based on a few communities and sections of society used to work according to needs. After the British education system, we generated a brute workforce to obey rather than to create something precious. Leaving our traditional economic systems of hard work and skilled-based systems. It needs to be solved by providing proper skills and skill centers based on requirement.
* Education and degrees, as per a few surveys. Educated people are the most unemployed, due to lack of quality jobs and skills. Holding a degree cannot be provided with employment opportunities. China, South Korea, and Japan have introduced vocational, AI, and industrial skills which are needed. In India, we focus more on theory rather than practical approaches. The skills required and the education we need, do not match to the core needs.
* Execution is another big hurdle and hindrance in Indian policy making. We can make rules, laws and regulations, but if we can't implement them on the ground, then the policy would have no value. Our bureaucratic hurdles and corruption by officials regarding permits, take years of time in documentation. Eventually, things have changed and systems have improved after E - governance, but somewhere we still lack proper support from government.
These are the 5 major economic issues which need to be rectified based on the current situation. The workforce needs to be transferred to the high productivity zone from low.
Solutions
India needs to create jobs in non-farming sectors with modern methods and tools. Education and skills need to be modified according to modern requirements rather than rote learning. As time is moving quickly across the world, India needs to adapt to fast-paced systems for approvals. Instead of depending on already built cities, we must focus equally on tier 2 cities, it would help us provide better job creation and new economic hubs. The major population dynamics were women represented in numbers rather than in the work force. If we can improve and include women in jobs, it would create better economic growth. I hope India builds a better skilled force to deal with AI and other workforces to deal with poverty.
