Railways can generate 1 mn jobs but the system is slow: Piyush Goyal at WEF

“We have the potential to create no less than a million jobs around railways if we can provide an enabling environment,” said Minister of Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal at the World Economic Forum’s India summit on Thursday.

While Railways is already one of the country’s biggest employer, the scope to create jobs is immense.

“There are 2,000 railway stations in India that don’t have a booking office. So rather than having a ticketing office, why not encourage a local entrepreneur from the village to book tickets and earn a commission,” Goyal said.

However, the problem is that the system is slow to move.

Over the years, the system that has been created is slow to move, said Goyal. This causes delays and reduces focus on costs and efficiency. As a consequence, investments are not as effective as desired.

The minister stressed that transformative results are possible but “we need to change the mindset.”

“The investments in the pipeline can alone create thousands of jobs. We can also monetise our real estate. That will also create many opportunities,” Goyal said.

Jobs is undoubtedly top of the agenda at the India economic summit.

Other panelists at the session titled - Creating Indian Narratives – also stressed on the need to create jobs to absorb the millions that are entering the labour force each year.

“India needs to focus on creating jobs and focus on improving productivity by engineering the shift away from informality towards formality,” said Ajay S Banga, president and chief executive officer, Mastercard

While touching on the rise in disparities, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said that it is worrying that companies are cutting down on jobs. He called on businesses to be "a source of inclusiveness."

Panelists at the session also felt that in the current international environment, time was right for India to step-up on the global arena.

“Today there is no clear leadership in the world. There was a time when the US was leading the way, but that is missing today. India under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi can fill that void. It can drive the global narrative,” said Mittal.

Take, for instance, the Paris climate accords.

“India has taken the lead in climate issues by giving a commitment that was far in excess of what was hoped from it. Further, at a time when the developed world talks about raising barriers to trade, India needs to take the leadership role and talk about openness,” said Mittal.

“With developed countries withdrawing from the international order they helped set up, it creates a vacuum that needs to be filled and there is no reason that India can’t set the tone, can’t set the rules of the game,” said Banga.