India's private sector needs to step up and match the government's efforts towards job creation and making young people employable, as in the absence of a collective effort, the country's demographic dividend could become a demographic disaster, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said on Wednesday.

In his reaction to the Union Budget for 2024-25, he said it shows evidence that the government recognises the importance of growth accompanied by job-creation.

"We are the envy of the world in terms of our growth in GDP. We are the preferred destination of the world for investment because of the belief in our future," Mahindra said in a post on social media platform X.

He further said, "But the vital task ahead for us is to ensure that this growth is now accompanied by an explosion in job-creation." Mahindra noted that, "Hence for me, the most important element of yesterday's budget was strong evidence that the government recognises this to be its most important mission. And that skilling to make young people employable is as important as employment." Mahindra said the schemes announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are promising. "But they need to be tracked closely to ensure that the incentives are working and if any tweaks/modifications are required," he added.

Asking the private sector to also play their part, Mahindra said it "needs to step up to the crease and do its part by investing in both employment & employability".

He cautioned that, "If we don't all pull together for this task, the demographic dividend will go back to being a demographic disaster."

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