According to reports from Business Standard, NITI Aayog has proposed in its May 2026 report titled 'States' Framework: Advancing International Mobility for Skilled Workers' that states take on a bigger role in preparing and placing workers for overseas jobs. The think tank recommends that states build dedicated migration ecosystems, encompassing destination-specific skilling, language training, employer partnerships, migrant databases, and worker support systems. The idea aims to shift outward migration away from being an individual, informal pursuit towards an institutionally-backed pathway to employment.
As reported by Business Standard, in 2024, the government issued Emigration Clearance (EC) to 387,067 prospective emigrants, down from 398,317 in 2023. According to a Rajya Sabha reply by the Ministry of External Affairs in December 2025, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had the highest number of workers to whom ECs were granted, followed by Kuwait and Oman. India remained the world's largest recipient of foreign remittance inflows in 2024, according to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2026.
According to reports from Business Standard, the proposal runs up against the basic Constitutional structure wherein emigration is a Central subject, and states currently have no legal authority to regulate it. Ankit Rajgarhia, partner at Bahuguna Law Associates, noted that states had considerable administrative and developmental space, but not independent regulatory authority over emigration. Rishabh Gandhi, founder of Rishabh Gandhi and Advocates, cautioned that the biggest challenge would be maintaining a clear distinction between facilitation and regulation, warning that state-run recruitment systems could create jurisdictional conflicts with the Centre's licensing framework.
As reported by Business Standard, Nitin Dave, CEO of staffing at Quess Corp, proposed what he called an 'SSC' framework: 'Strategy' with the Centre, 'Sourcing' with states, and 'Connecting' workers to jobs with private recruiters. Dave argued that state governments should incorporate safeguards against worker exploitation into their migration frameworks, including clear rules for recruiters, blacklisting of violators, and maintaining verified databases of authorised agencies. Balasubramanian from TeamLease Services noted that different states were likely to follow inconsistent processes in initial years, since there is currently no uniform template to work from.
According to reports from Business Standard, Laveesh Bhandari from the Centre for Social and Economic Progress cautioned that only a couple of states have institutional experience in facilitating overseas employment, while most will have to build the required systems from scratch. He warned that generic cells housed within labour or skill development departments, without adequate resources and autonomy, tend to underperform. Abhay Tilak from the Indian School of Political Economy noted that India lacks proper understanding of its own domestic labour market and skill requirements of countries it hopes to send workers to, highlighting the need for better market analysis and skill mapping.
