New Delhi, April 22 -- Among several distressing data points in the recently published The State of Working India 2026, a detailed vivisection of India's demographic bulge by scholars at Azim Premji University (APU), a few vividly stand out.

While India now produces 5 million graduates every year, salaried employment is only a fraction of that at 1.7 million annually. "This has also contributed to a slowdown in graduate earnings," the report notes.

Meanwhile, 13 million Indians join the working-age population every year. As aspirations rise, many acquire college degrees of sadly variable quality to compete for too few jobs. The report says that 15- to 29-year-olds account for about a third of India's working-age population, of which abo...