At a conference in Mumbai on 21 September, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched Maharashtra’s ‘Global Workforce Mobility Policy 2026’—India’s first state-level blueprint dedicated to grooming residents for overseas employment. The policy, drafted by the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA) and the newly created Maharashtra Agency for Holistic International Mobility & Advancement (MAHIMA), commits the state to create country-specific “Skill Passports”, foreign-language training modules, international certification pathways and a secure digital recruitment marketplace. Officials said demographic shifts and labour shortages in countries such as Japan, Germany, Israel and the Gulf offer “once-in-a-generation” opportunities for Indian workers. By mapping job demand abroad and realigning ITI curricula, Maharashtra hopes to place tens of thousands of welders, nurses, construction supervisors and software testers each year while protecting them from unscrupulous recruiters. A central feature is the so-called Circular Mobility of Talent. Returnees will have their overseas experience recognised through preferential hiring in domestic industry clusters around Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur. The policy also mandates pre-departure cultural orientation, insurance coverage and on-arrival support through Indian missions. For global employers, the initiative promises a pipeline of vetted, English-speaking talent with government-validated credentials. Indian multinationals stand to benefit when deploying staff to overseas subsidiaries because documentation and skills equivalence will be standardised. Immigration counsel note that state-sponsored upskilling could eventually dovetail with federal Mobility and Migration Agreements (MMAs) being negotiated with the EU and the UK, easing work-permit quotas for Indian nationals.
Source: Mid-Day
