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Issue #18 | December 2025
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Editorial
From a policy and regulatory standpoint, employment signals are mixed but cautiously encouraging. Large investment announcements in Rajasthan, rising tourist inflows into Jaipur, and the rapid expansion of global capability centres reflect an economy with clear job-creating momentum across industry, services and urban markets. Yet the sharp growth in platform-based work, now engaging 1.37 million delivery workers, underscores a persistent gap between employment growth and quality.
Regulation is increasingly central to shaping outcomes. Measures addressing after-hours digital work and extending protections to gig workers acknowledge the realities of a technology-driven labour market. At the same time, infrastructure expansion, energy transitions, and new trade arrangements are redefining labour demand across sectors. However, uneven industrial readiness, transmission bottlenecks, environmental governance challenges, and exposure to external trade shocks, particularly in export-oriented states, underline the costs of weak coordination between policy intent and execution.
For state-level economies, the task ahead is clear. Jobs growth must be anchored in regulatory coherence, investment facilitation, and sustained skilling, while safeguarding environmental and social foundations that support livelihoods. If growth strategies are align with competitive markets and effective regulation, the current momentum can translate into resilient, inclusive employment outcomes rather than short-lived gains.
Varidhi Singh
Director
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Rajasthan Announces ₹1 Lakh Crore Investment Proposals at Pravasi Divas
 Vedanta’s planned industrial park will host units with investments ranging from ₹2 crore to ₹200 crore, alongside mineral-led manufacturing units. Large-scale project launches will signal accelerated industrialisation employment generation, infrastructure growth, and statewide economic expansion.  Jaipur is witnessing a surge in international arrivals from the US, the UK, France and beyond, with tourist numbers doubling annually. The growth is attributed to forts, palaces, havelis and improved connectivity, with Amer Fort, Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal among top attractions.
Rural Jobs Scheme 2.0: More Days, Shared Costs The VB-G RAM G Bill 2025 replaces MGNREGA, raises employment entitlement to 125, revises funding to 60:40 Centre-state split, pauses work during peak agricultural seasons, and emphasises infrastructure creation, local planning, accountability, and new monitoring councils.
 India’s platform-based couriers numbered 1.37 million in 2023-24, growing faster than overall employment. However, experts warn that long hours, low pay and distress-driven participation point to deeper structural issues in the gig economy. |
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Policy & Investment Climate
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Rajasthan Tourist Footfall Up 11.71%
 Year-on-year visitation grew 11.71 percent, driven by transparency, investor-friendly policies, efficient administration, infrastructure upgrades, heritage conservation and modern facilities, strengthening the state’s economic contribution.
GCC Have Reason to Celebrate
 As Indian IT services firms slow hiring, multinational global capability centres (GCCs) expand rapidly, offering higher pay, faster career progression, occupying prime office spaces, and recording workforce growth of 18-27 per cent annually.
Invest UP Woos Singapore Investors
 A delegation led by CEO Shashank Chaudhary engaged GIC Infrastructure and SICCI, highlighting Uttar Pradesh’s growth potential, logistics corridors, land readiness, facilitation systems, workforce strengths, and airport infrastructure to attract long-term capital.
PM Urges States at Chief Secretaries’ Meet
 The Prime Minister urged reforms spanning manufacturing, climate action, demographics, skills mapping, tourism hubs, sports infrastructure, digitisation, and decade-long competitiveness planning.
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Rajasthan Studies Best Mining Practices
 The government will study frameworks in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh covering rules, clearances, enforcement, technology use, revenue systems, and controls on illegal mining to inform policy reform.
India-New Zealand Seal Free Trade Deal
 The bilateral pact grants zero-duty exports for one side and phased concessions covering most tariff lines for the other. It boosts goods, services, investment and labour mobility, while excluding sensitive agricultural products.
India-Oman Trade Pact Boosts Middle East Ties
 The CEPA grants near-total duty-free access, aims to push bilateral trade beyond US$10bn, diversifies exports amid US tariffs, and strengthens India’s gateway role in the Gulf, excluding sensitive agriculture.
Trump Tariffs Hurt One of India’s Richest States
 Tamil Nadu warns that high US duties have devastated textiles, leather, and footwear exports, triggering SME closures and losses estimated at ₹600million per day.
Tamil Nadu Posts 16 % Nominal GSDP Growth
 Tamil Nadu recorded 16 percent nominal GSDP growth to ₹31.19 lakh crore, outpacing Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, raising per capita GSDP to ₹3.62 lakh through industrial diversification, infrastructure, skilling, and welfare programmes.
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Infrastructure & Energy Development
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Cheaper Govt Land Fuels Solar Sector Rush
 Fast-tracked allocation of low-cost government land for private solar projects is depressing local land prices, limiting jobs and innovation, while communities await legal protection for 8,000 acres of pasture and groves.
Punjab Plans EV Incentives in New Policy
 Punjab is considering significant incentives for the electric vehicle (EV) sector in its new industrial policy, expected in January 2026, including concessions on land, power, and taxes, and sales-linked incentives.
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Middle Class Growth to Drive Tourism Boom
 Rising incomes and economic growth are expected to boost tourism with private investment encouraged to innovate hospitality, enhance visitor experiences, and elevate India’s global tourism standing.
Build Safety in the Gig Economy
 Karnataka has enacted legislation securing fair wages, safety, and social security for gig workers, addressing long-standing vulnerabilities in the unorganised labour sector.
Aravalli Debate Goes Beyond Mining Boundaries
 The Aravalli hills regulate climate, water, biodiversity, and settlements across north-western India. A revised 100-metre definition excludes most features, weakening ecological protection, amid mining pressures, and enforcement gaps that threaten long-term resilience.
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The Bill bars after-hours work communication, mandates overtime pay, introduces penalties, and proposes an Employees’ Welfare Authority, to curb burnout amid a pervasive digital work culture.