How the 2025 Budget is uniquely focused on education and skills: A Deloitte view

There are some direct proposals in the Budget around this area and there are some other that have an indirect but strong impact. The two together make the 2025-26 budget an education and skills focused Budget.

There is a particular impetus on skilling in sectors like footwear and leather, toys, food processing and manufacturing. Not only are these sectors key to economic growth through meeting domestic requirements and through exports, but they are also labour intensive.  
The proposal to establish national centers of excellence for skilling, focusing on curriculum frameworks, trainer training, certification frameworks, and global collaboration, will provide the skill development sector with a much-needed think tank and technical hub to introduce best-in-class approaches to skilling.

Over the last few years, gig workers in the e-commerce and other sectors have become a key employer of our youth. The budget brings them into the social security net through benefit of access to e-shram portal and healthcare schemes. This will encourage more youth to skill themselves and take up such employment opportunities. 

Another sector which will see a focus on skill development is tourism and this is aligned to the goal of employment-led growth. 

There are other initiatives in the budget which will encourage focus on skill development and job creation in tier-two cities. These include promotion of Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in tier-two cities, broadband extension to PHCs, creation of daycare cancer centers in districts and proposal to set up of new airports and add 120 new destinations under the Udaan scheme. 

Both the school education and higher education segments are undergoing transformation in the last few years. They have both found excellent push in this Budget too. 

The support to the Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 scheme will support early childcare and education and pre-schooling. 

The proposal to create 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools will encourage greater interest and better learning outcomes in science subjects. 

Extending broadband to secondary schools through Bharatnet will bring internet to millions of students and contribute to improvement in quality of education. The expansion of capacities in IITs and medical colleges will enable many more youth the benefit of quality education. 

Parents of students who study abroad are subjected to levy of charges when remitting money abroad for education. The proposal to remove TCS on education loans up to ₹10 lakh from specified financial institutions will provide a relief to such parents. 

The Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme to provide books for school and higher education in Indian languages digitally will create ease of learning for millions of students. 

Most non-government education institutions are run by trusts and societies. By reducing the compliance burden for small charitable trusts/ institutions in terms of increased period of registration, will enable such institutions to devote more energies to their charitable education work.

National Research Foundation set up in 2023 provided research funding eligible public universities and corporates. The proposed deep tech fund of funds will extend this opportunity to other universities. The Prime Minister research fellowship schemes for IITs and IISC will contribute to focus on research in our leading educational institutes. 

The relief on both direct and indirect taxes will put more money in the hands of middle class which would enable them to invest on education and skills.

This budget, in summary, has laid a very strong base both directly and indirectly to enable the next wave of growth and reforms in education, research and skill development.

—The author, Kamlesh Vyas, is Partner at Deloitte India. The views are personal.