Secretaries told to upskill in-house staff instead of hiring consultants

The government has asked Central Secretaries to train their officers in “specialised skills”, including “preparing, tendering documents, drafting of legislation and managing dispute mechanisms”, instead of hiring consultants from private firms, The Indian Express has learnt. This is learnt to have been conveyed to Secretaries after their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 22.

A week after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan also sent out a missive to Secretaries, listing “action points” from their interaction with Modi. Among the points on which the Secretaries have been requested to initiate action, Somanathan has listed skilling of in-house officers instead of hiring consultants.

“Officers should be trained in preparing, tendering documents, drafting of legislation, managing dispute mechanisms and other specialised skills Courses on iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training) platform also contain theoretical basic knowledge which can be utilised for capacity enhancement,” Somanathan wrote.

Key Analysis and Detailed Timeline

Somanathan also noted that initial discussions among stakeholder ministries/ departments before a Cabinet proposal is finalised should be encouraged to avoid delays at later stages and for seamless implementation. The emphasis on training officers instead of roping in private consulting firms is significant as several government departments hire consultants or outsource work to various companies including McKinsey, Ernst & Young, PwC and Deloitte.

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Last July, Union Minister of State for Rural Development Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry alone had hired 362 consultants so far. “The consultants also provide support for facilitating smooth day-to-day coordination of the ministry with the States/UTs, enabling the officers to focus on core policy issues and ensure the meeting of milestones within the set deadline,” he said in a written reply.

07.2025, a total of 325 consultants were hired with different divisions of the DoRD (Department of Rural Development) and 37 consultants were hired These consultants are hired through institutions, autonomous bodies, public sector enterprises, etc.,” he stated. Earlier, Minister of State of Planning Rao Inderjit Singh informed the Lok Sabha in July 2017 that the NITI Aayog had engaged Ernst & Young to promote public private partnerships in infrastructure in the States.

Broader Impact and Sector Outlook

Detailing such engagement, he stated in a written reply on July 26, 2017: “In order to transform health and education in three States each under Development Support Services for States (DSSS), consortium of McKinsey & Company and IPE Global; and Boston Consultant Group & Piramal Foundation Education Limited have been engaged respectively. M/s IPE Global in consortium with Horwath HTL France and Crowe Horwath HTL Consultants Pvt.

Ltd has been engaged as consultant for preparation of Concept Development Plans and Detailed Master Plans for Holistic Development of Package-I Islands (Ross, Smith, Avis & Long islands in A&N) and Package–III Islands (Minicoy, Bangaram, Thinnakara, Cheriyam & Suheli islands in Lakshadweep).” Similarly, in April 2018, then Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, C R Chaudhary, informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry had engaged PwC for the buffer stock management of pulses.