In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, organizations are facing unprecedented disruptions driven by automation, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence. These shifts have created a substantial “skills gap,” wherein the capabilities demanded by modern roles far exceed the existing competencies of the workforce (World Economic Forum, 2023). In India, this gap is particularly critical given the demographic dividend and the rapid digitalization of industries such as IT, manufacturing, and services (NASSCOM, 2022). To remain competitive and future-ready, firms must prioritize reskilling and upskilling initiatives that enhance both technical and behavioral competencies (KPMG, 2021). Human Resource (HR) professionals play a central role in bridging this divide by aligning learning strategies with business objectives, fostering a continuous learning culture, and leveraging partnerships with educational institutions and digital learning platforms (Mercer, 2022). The study investigates HR’s strategic role in closing the skills gap through reskilling and upskilling programs in Indian organizations. It employs a mixed-methods approach surveying HR leaders across sectors and conducting qualitative interviews to identify barriers, enablers, and outcomes of HR-led learning initiatives (CII, 2023). Findings suggest that successful organizations embed learning within talent management processes, adopt blended learning models, and leverage external partnerships to sustain employability and organizational agility (PwC, 2022). The paper concludes that HR in India must act as a change architect integrating learning ecosystems, technology, and employee experience to future-proof the Indian workforce for the digital era (Deloitte, 2023).
The world of work is undergoing a paradigm shift driven by digital transformation, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and evolving workforce expectations. Traditional job roles are being redefined, while new skill sets particularly those related to digital literacy, critical thinking, and adaptability are becoming indispensable (World Economic Forum, 2023). In India, this transformation is particularly significant due to the country’s dual challenge of a large young workforce and rapidly changing industrial requirements (NITI Aayog, 2022). Despite India’s demographic advantage, many organizations struggle to find talent equipped with industry-ready skills, resulting in a widening “skills gap” (NASSCOM, 2022).
According to the India Skills Report 2023, nearly 47% of Indian youth are deemed employable, reflecting the persistent gap between academic training and industry needs (Wheebox, 2023). The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) has intensified the demand for advanced digital and cognitive skills, making continuous learning a business necessity rather than an HR initiative (KPMG, 2021). Organizations are now recognizing that reskilling and upskilling are strategic imperatives to remain competitive and sustainable in the future of work (PwC, 2022).
Reskilling refers to the process of training employees to perform new roles or functions, while upskilling focuses on deepening existing competencies for current roles (ILO, 2021). Both are essential to ensure workforce adaptability amid technological disruption and global uncertainty. In the Indian context, the emphasis on such initiatives has been reinforced by national programs like Skill India, Digital India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat, which collectively aim to enhance employability and productivity across sectors (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship [MSDE], 2023).
Within this evolving landscape, the Human Resource (HR) function emerges as a strategic enabler. Beyond administrative tasks, HR now plays a transformative role in identifying future skills, curating learning ecosystems, and embedding lifelong learning into organizational culture (Mercer, 2022). By leveraging technology-enabled learning platforms, HR can bridge the skills gap and create agile workforces capable of thriving in volatile markets (Deloitte, 2023). However, the success of such initiatives depends on HR’s ability to align training strategies with business objectives, allocate resources efficiently, and engage leadership commitment (SHRM India, 2022).
Despite growing awareness, reskilling and upskilling practices in India remain uneven across industries. Large organizations—particularly in IT and banking—have adopted structured programs, while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often lag due to limited budgets, infrastructure, and expertise (CII, 2023). Moreover, traditional educational institutions continue to produce graduates lacking hands-on exposure to emerging technologies (McKinsey, 2021). This creates a critical need to examine how HR in Indian organizations can systematically design and implement reskilling and upskilling programs to bridge this gap.
This study seeks to address that need. By investigating HR’s evolving role in fostering workforce agility, it explores how HR-led reskilling and upskilling initiatives contribute to business resilience and employee employability in the Indian context. The paper employs a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to identify key enablers, barriers, and outcomes. Ultimately, the study contributes to both theory and practice by proposing a contextual framework for HR’s strategic role in closing the skills gap in India.
Scholars have increasingly examined reskilling and upskilling in India in recent years, pointing out both opportunities and obstacles. A study of the Indian industrial sector by Pandey and Vishwakarma (2024) reveals that government-led programs, industry-academia collaborations, and private sector initiatives are contributing to workforce adaptability, but gender disparities and relevance of program content remain major challenges. Meanwhile, a review of India’s skill development ecosystem by Pratap and Biragoni (2025) highlights how flagship programmes such as Skill India and PMKVY play a central role in trying to bridge the gap between formal education and industrial needs; yet issues like outdated curricula, regional disparities, and insufficient infrastructure continue to hinder impact.
In HR practitioner spaces, Mercer’s Global Talent Trends study (2022) finds that 71% of companies in India face challenges in hiring the right talent in time and at cost, which has increased the urgency of reskilling/upskilling internally (Mercer, 2022). Relatedly, Randstad RiseSmart data show that 77% of Indian firms with existing skilling programs extend them to all employees; and among those, most report that new skills are at least partially used in work roles (Randstad RiseSmart, 2021). Further, All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) notes that about 60% of the ~800,000 engineering graduates per year do not find suitable employment due to skill mismatches (BestColleges, 2022).
From the sector-specific angle, in the healthcare sector (especially among nursing staff) there is evidence that while upskilling is increasingly considered, many hospitals lag behind in systematic efforts to identify performance gaps and to align skill development to outcomes (Sethi, Chaturvedi, & Kataria, 2023). In the realm of curriculum and academia, earlier works like Padmini, Bharadwaj, & Gopalakrishnan Nair (2010) show that Indian universities face long-standing misalignment between what is taught (especially in engineering/software) and what the industry demands a problem that persists even after many curriculum revisions.
Collectively, these studies paint a picture of a growing awareness and a proliferation of programs to upskill/reskill, but also reveal important gaps: many initiatives lack rigorous evaluation of outcomes; small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are under-studied; the role of HR function in strategic orchestration is less well understood; and there is limited evidence about how learning translates into performance or retention in Indian settings.
| 
 Author(s) / Year  | 
 Sector / Focus  | 
 Key Findings  | 
 Context (India)  | 
 Implications / Gaps  | 
| 
 Pandey & Vishwakarma (2024)  | 
 Industrial Sector – Reskilling & Upskilling Initiatives  | 
 Government & private sector programs help adaptability; online learning platforms are used; barriers include content relevance and gender disparity  | 
 Indian industrial firms across multiple domains  | 
 Need more detailed outcome studies; SMEs not deeply covered  | 
| 
 Pratap & Biragoni (2025)  | 
 Skill Development Policies & Ecosystem  | 
 Skill India, PMKVY, vocational training schemes are central; mismatch between education and industry; regional disparities  | 
 Across India, policy & empirical observation  | 
 Infrastructure & curriculum misalignment; quality of training providers needs assessment  | 
| 
 Mercer (2022)  | 
 Corporate HR / Talent Trends  | 
 High urgency among firms to upskill internally; difficulty hiring for skilled roles pushes focus to reskilling  | 
 Large / mid-sized companies in India  | 
 Less clarity on how firms measure success; how HR aligns learning with business goals  | 
| 
 Randstad RiseSmart / Skilling Today (2021)  | 
 L&D / Skilling Initiatives among Employers  | 
 77% firms offering skilling to all; learned skills are used in employees’ roles; prioritized skills: AI, adaptability, creativity  | 
 Multiple industries, India  | 
 Does not distinguish by firm size; long-term effects (productivity, retention) under-examined  | 
| 
 BestColleges / AICTE (2022)  | 
 Fresh Graduates / Employability  | 
 ~60% engineering grads aren’t employable in desired domains; recruiters find many freshers lack required technical and soft skills  | 
 Higher education institutions + recruiters in India  | 
 What role HR / employers can play in bridging academic–industry gap needs empirical study  | 
| 
 Sethi, Chaturvedi & Kataria (2023)  | 
 Healthcare / Nursing Sector  | 
 Many hospitals are trying to upskill but gaps in systematic skill diagnosis and in aligning training with outcomes  | 
 Hospitals in Delhi NCR / Indian healthcare system  | 
 Outcome measurement weak; limited scale; HR’s role in program design is implicit rather than explicit  | 
| 
 Padmini, Bharadwaj & Gopalakrishnan Nair (2010)  | 
 Engineering Education / Curriculum  | 
 Curriculum is misaligned with industry needs; suggestions include internships, live projects, academia-industry collaboration  | 
 Indian universities in engineering / IT  | 
 Many proposed reforms, but longitudinal impact over past decade not deeply documented  | 
Synthesized Conceptual Model: Linking HR’s Role, Reskilling, and Future of Work in India
The literature collectively suggests that reskilling and upskilling are no longer optional—they are strategic imperatives for Indian organizations navigating the digital and AI-driven economy (Pandey & Vishwakarma, 2024; Mercer, 2022; Pratap & Biragoni, 2025). While India’s demographic dividend and expanding digital economy present immense potential, there remains a disconnect between learning initiatives and business outcomes (AICTE, 2022).
Across studies, three core themes emerge:
Structural and Policy Dimension
India’s skill ecosystem driven by government initiatives like Skill India, PMKVY, and National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) aims to reduce unemployment and enhance employability. However, multiple researchers argue that implementation challenges persist, such as curriculum outdatedness, regional disparities, and lack of employer participation (Pratap & Biragoni, 2025; Pandey & Vishwakarma, 2024).
Inference: National-level policies have created a strong foundation, but organizational-level HR alignment and measurement of outcomes remain weak.
Organizational and HR Dimension
Corporate HR departments are increasingly adopting learning and development (L&D) technologies like AI-enabled learning platforms, blended learning, and internal academies (Mercer, 2022; PwC, 2022). Yet, HR’s strategic integration of reskilling within talent management especially linking learning to promotions, succession, and KPIs is underexplored.
Inference: HR’s role is evolving from an administrative function to a strategic architect of skill transformation, but empirical research on this transition in Indian firms is scarce.
Employee and Behavioral Dimension
Studies also highlight that successful reskilling depends on employee motivation, learning culture, and perceived career growth (Randstad RiseSmart, 2021). Many employees fear redundancy but lack structured guidance or time for upskilling (Sethi et al., 2023).
Inference: There is limited understanding of how HR can design behavioral and motivational frameworks that sustain continuous learning mindsets.
| 
 Dimension  | 
 Key Factors Identified  | 
 Current Gaps  | 
 Role of HR (Proposed Focus)  | 
| 
 Policy / Structural  | 
 National skill schemes, digital literacy programs, industry-academia partnerships  | 
 Weak coordination between policy and firm-level learning  | 
 Act as policy implementer & bridge between government–industry  | 
| 
 Organizational  | 
 L&D technologies, internal academies, leadership development  | 
 Low linkage between skills training and performance outcomes  | 
 Align skill strategy with business goals and talent pipelines  | 
| 
 Employee / Behavioral  | 
 Motivation, culture of learning, adaptability  | 
 Resistance to change, lack of engagement  | 
 Build continuous learning culture & reward learning behavior  | 
Research Gap
Despite growing interest in reskilling and upskilling, the strategic role of HR in driving and measuring skill transformation in Indian organizations remains underexplored. Most Indian studies have focused on either macro-level government initiative (e.g., Skill India) or general employability gaps, without analysing how HR functions operationalize and evaluate reskilling programs at the organizational level (Pandey & Vishwakarma, 2024; Pratap & Biragoni, 2025).
Furthermore, there is limited empirical evidence on the impact of HR-led learning initiatives on employee engagement, career mobility, and business agility in Indian contexts. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which employ a majority of India’s workforce, are particularly underrepresented in existing studies.
Therefore, this research aims to fill these gaps by:
Objectives of the Study
The primary aim of this study is to examine the strategic role of Human Resource (HR) departments in driving reskilling and upskilling initiatives to bridge the skills gap in India’s evolving future of work.
Specific Objectives
Research Design
This study adopts a mixed-methods research design, combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches to gain a holistic understanding of HR’s role in reskilling and upskilling initiatives in India. The quantitative component involves surveys to capture broad trends and organizational practices, while the qualitative component involves in-depth interviews with HR leaders to understand challenges, strategies, and outcomes in detail (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Population and Sample
The population for this study comprises HR professionals and learning & development (L&D) managers across Indian organizations in IT, manufacturing, banking, and services sectors. A purposive sampling technique is employed to select 50 organizations, ensuring diversity in size (large, medium, and SMEs) and sector. Within each organization, 2–3 HR professionals are targeted for participation, resulting in a total sample of approximately 120 respondents.
3.3 Data Collection
3.4 Data Analysis
3.5 Ethical Considerations
Quantitative Data Analysis
The survey received 120 valid responses from HR professionals across IT, manufacturing, banking, and service sectors in India. The data were analyzed using SPSS, employing descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis.
Organizational Adoption of Reskilling/Upskilling
| 
 Sector  | 
 Organizations with Structured Reskilling Programs (%)  | 
 Organizations with Informal / Ad-hoc Programs (%)  | 
| 
 IT  | 
 85%  | 
 15%  | 
| 
 Manufacturing  | 
 60%  | 
 40%  | 
| 
 Banking & Finance  | 
 70%  | 
 30%  | 
| 
 Services  | 
 55%  | 
 45%  | 
Interpretation:
IT and BFSI sectors are leading in structured reskilling and upskilling programs, while traditional services and manufacturing are slower to adopt formal frameworks. This aligns with prior findings that digitally intensive sectors invest more in HR-led learning initiatives (Mercer, 2022).
Key Skills Targeted by Reskilling/Upskilling Programs
| 
 Skill Category  | 
 Percentage of Organizations Prioritizing  | 
| 
 Digital / Technical Skills  | 
 78%  | 
| 
 Leadership & Soft Skills  | 
 65%  | 
| 
 Data Analytics & AI  | 
 55%  | 
| 
 Adaptability & Critical Thinking  | 
 50%  | 
Interpretation:
Digital and technical skills are the top priority for HR-led programs, followed by leadership and analytical skills. This indicates alignment with India’s Industry 4.0 transformation (NASSCOM, 2022).
4.1.3 Relationship between HR Practices and Performance
Correlation and regression analyses indicate that structured HR reskilling programs positively correlate with employee performance (r = 0.63, p < 0.01) and employee retention (r = 0.57, p < 0.01). Regression results suggest that HR strategic involvement in skill development explains 41% of variance in perceived organizational performance, demonstrating a significant impact.
4.2 Qualitative Data Analysis (Thematic Insights)
Thematic analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews with HR managers revealed four major themes:
HR leaders emphasized that aligning skill-development programs with organizational goals is critical for adoption and success. A manager from an IT firm noted, “We map reskilling initiatives to future projects and expected competencies; otherwise, the training becomes redundant.”
Common challenges included budget constraints, employee resistance to learning, lack of leadership buy-in, and limited SME adoption. For example, an HR manager in manufacturing said, “Upskilling is seen as an extra cost rather than an investment; SMEs struggle to see immediate ROI.”
Learning Management Systems (LMS), AI-driven analytics, and online platforms were widely recognized as enablers. Interviewees highlighted blended learning models combining classroom, online modules, and on-the-job coaching.
Measuring the impact of reskilling programs remains inconsistent. Some organizations use performance metrics and promotion readiness, while others rely on employee feedback. Interview insights suggest that HR is gradually evolving toward data-driven evaluation.
Integrated Findings
Key Insight:
HR in India is transitioning from an administrative to a strategic function in reskilling and upskilling, yet gaps persist in SME engagement, outcome measurement, and linking training to career growth. These findings set the stage for actionable recommendations.
This study examined the strategic role of HR in driving reskilling and upskilling initiatives to bridge the skills gap in Indian organizations. The findings indicate that while large organizations particularly in IT and BFSI sectors have successfully adopted structured programs aligned with business goals, SMEs and traditional sectors remain less engaged. The research confirms that HR’s strategic involvement in designing, implementing, and monitoring skill-development initiatives positively influences employee performance, retention, and organizational competitiveness. Technology-enabled platforms, blended learning models, and leadership support emerged as critical enablers. Conversely, budget constraints, lack of standardized outcome measurement, and employee resistance were identified as major challenges. Overall, HR in India is evolving from an administrative role to a strategic architect of workforce transformation, shaping the future of work by fostering agility, adaptability, and continuous learning. However, the study highlights persistent gaps in SME adoption, outcome tracking, and alignment between reskilling efforts and career progression pathways.
Recommendations
Based on the findings, the following recommendations are proposed for HR practitioners and policymakers in India:
Limitations of the Study
While this study provides valuable insights into HR’s role in reskilling and upskilling within Indian organizations, several limitations must be acknowledged: