From Resource-led to Skills-led Odisha: Building a Future-Ready Learning and Talent Engine

Odisha is positioning itself as a national model for youth-centric, skills-first growth, with initiatives such as BharatNetra and state skilling missions anchoring a new talent pipeline in AI, digital finance, FinTech, InsurTech and emerging technologies. 

Day 1 of the Summit discussed converting India’s demographic dividend into 30 million digital finance jobs, building 3 million jobs for women, and using Odisha’s GCC and BharatNetra platforms to create globally relevant financial-sector capabilities.​​

Yet, the real test is whether this ambition can translate into a actual outcomes for Odia youth. Employers and education leaders must align around new job families, skills-based hiring, and continuous learning models that keep pace with rapidly changing competencies, with global evidence suggesting that nearly two-fifths of workers’ core skills will change by 2030. 

Key questions for discussion
- How should Odisha redesign curricula and certification models across universities, ITIs, polytechnics, and short-term programs so that Skills-First learning in AI, digital finance, and quantum-era technologies becomes the default pathway to employment, not a niche offering?​​
- What concrete mechanisms (joint labs, co-designed courses, outcome-linked apprenticeships) are needed for a standing “triple-helix” platform between state government, industry and academia so that job-role definitions and course content are updated regularly?
- How can BharatNetra and the emerging Odisha GCC ecosystem be used as applied learning arenas, where students and mid-career professionals work on live use cases in regulated finance, risk, and compliance?
- What state-level norms and incentives are required to ensure that at least a defined share of new digital finance jobs and internships created through these initiatives go to women, rural youth, and first-generation graduates, and that support systems (mentoring, bridge programs, childcare, language support) are built around them?​​
- What data, metrics, and accountability mechanisms should Odisha adopt to outcomes over the next 5 - 10 years?