I arrive in the Delhi airport at 1 am, on time today, thanks Lufthansa

At the arrival gate there is s young woman waiting with a sign with my name on it, and an electric buggy with driver. Normally when I arrive here I will have some exercise after an 8 hour flight, and run in the airport corridor to beat the crowd at the immigration.

This time someone has ordered the VIP service for me. The buggy is normally for retired or disabled people. Im not retired just yet, so I would have opted for the run otherwise. But since im in the buggy with the girl, I ask her where she is from. She is from north India, the state of Uttar Pradesh on the border to Nepal. Obviously I could have guessed that since she has been handpicked for the job for her looks. This makes me curious since one major reason why Mr. Modi lost many voters to the Congressparty in Uttar Pradesh, in this years election, was high youth unemployment. Mr. Modi failed to adress unemployment and labour market reform in the election campaign. So even though the economy is growing at 8%, many young people living in the province are unemployed.

• Did you vote for Mr. Modi in the election?, I ask her
• No I did not she replies
• Why not I ask
• I was not eligible to vote this year, I was only 17 years old when the election took place.

So you must have very well connected parents to land you this job in the airport service?, I ask her. Do you work for GMR?, (The listed company that runs the Delhi airport).

No, not really, I studied at the aviation/tourism program at the academy and they recommended me for this job.

She droppes me off at the immigration counter and I manage to beat the crowd this time as well, but without the exercise.

Not sure what the conclusion is here. But in a country with 1,4 bln population, education is important and to be able to offer employment to the next generation, Generation Z. India has a young population with 354 mln people that belongs to Generation Z, (born after year 2000).

These people are the engine for future growth, both in terms of labour and becoming the future consumers. Mr. Modi has a tall order in front of him. In order to sustain India’s future development and to continue to grow the economy at 8%, he need to create 8 million new jobs, every year. This will be a challenge, (among others).

This is the way we operate. We go there, you meet people, ask a few questions and sometimes get surprised.

/ Gunnar Påhlson, Delhi, 24-09-25