The Skill India Mission is aimed at bringing transformative changes in the skill landscape across states through skilling, reskilling and upskilling of the workforce. Aligning the national goal of reaping a democratic dividend with the flagship mission of producing a future-ready skilled workforce is critical to increasing productivity and enhancing the employability of the country's youth. The realistic assessment of various skill development training schemes under various schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jan Sikhshan Sansthan (JSS), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and Craftsman Training Scheme (CTS) is crucial to arrive at a conclusion if the country is on the course to transform the skill landscape. The report "Skills for the Future: Transforming India's Workforce Landscape", brought out by the Institute for Competitiveness (IFC), presents raw truth that cannot be ignored. Based on an analysis of the Period Labour Force Survey, the IFC report draws attention to the grim picture of 88% of the workforce being engaged in low-competency occupations and only 10-12% being engaged in high-competency roles, and that only 9.76% of the population has completed education beyond the secondary level, whereas more than 52% remain at or below the primary level. A key finding highlighted in the report is that "many workers occupy roles that do not correspond to their education levels, either due to overqualification (workers are more qualified than their jobs require) or underqualification (workers possess lower qualifications than required)." This finding raises questions about the priorities of the Skill India Mission vis-à-vis the country's requirement of a productive workforce in the future towards the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2045. The report highlights that "overqualified workers disproportionately occupy lower-skill jobs, reflecting a shortage of opportunities aligned with their qualifications' and adds that this imbalance suggests a lack of sufficient high-skill job opportunities to accommodate India's growing educated workforce. Other key findings of the IFC report that warrant urgent policy attention are: Approximately 4.24% of the workforce earn an annual income between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 8 lakh, placing them in the highest income bracket and representing highly skilled professionals, senior executives, and individuals in specialised fields like technology, medicine, finance, and management; these high earners reflect the premium on advanced education, specialised skills, and leadership positions in India's rapidly growing knowledge and service-based economy; their income levels contribute significantly to tax revenues and economic productivity, driving innovation and investment in high-growth sectors. In contrast, around 46% of the workforce earns less than Rs 1 lakh annually, which includes individuals engaged in low- to semi-skilled roles such as agricultural labourers, clerical staff, factory workers, and small-scale service providers; this income group represents a substantial portion of India's labour market, reflecting the prevalence of traditional industries, informal sector jobs, and difficulties in obtaining upskilling opportunities; and andmany workers in this segment are employed in roles lacking job opportunities for advancement, constraining their upward economic mobility. The institute has listed a set of recommendations for transforming the skill landscape that deserve prioritised action by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and various state governments. These include institutionalising a dedicated, skill-based survey that needs to be conducted at regular intervals and must go beyond conventional metrics to capture detailed information on skilling trends, including the types of courses individuals are enrolling in, the nature of upskilling activities, and their alignment with employment outcomes; the inclusion of employer perspectives to assess the relevance of training programs to industry standards; capturing post-training outcomes, such as employment rates, wage differentials, completion and uptake rates, and employer satisfaction with workforce preparedness that will allow for a more nuanced understanding of the skilling ecosystem's effectiveness. The report insisted that while vocational education and training (TVET) is often viewed as one solution to address skill gaps, merely focusing on TVET alone does not provide a holistic picture of the country's skill landscape, and an overall assessment of the skill landscape is essential. Official data highlights low recruitment from among those undergoing skill training under various schemes pointing towards a mismatch between the industry's current demand and the availability of skilled people. This implies that the primary goal of the Skill India Mission has remained unfulfilled. Adoption of artificial intelligence by various industries has already started disrupting the job market across the globe, but claims about many more new roles also emerging due to the application of AI have kept the debate on the fallout of AI in the future job market unsettled. The emerging reality, however, demands that the skill development mission reorients skill training schemes and programmes to create a workforce that will not find their newly acquired skills obsolete and will not be compelled to settle for jobs that do not match their education and skills. The IFC report and similar other studies have brought the critical gaps. The challenge is to transform the skill landscape to cater to future requirements of Indian industry.