New Delhi: The Centre is moving to strengthen specialised capabilities within government, with Central Secretaries asked to train their officers in areas such as tendering, legislative drafting and dispute management instead of routinely relying on private consulting firms.
The direction was conveyed to Secretaries following their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 22. A week later, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan circulated a list of action points from the interaction and asked ministries and departments to initiate measures to build the capabilities of their own officers.
From hiring consultants to building expertise within government
Among the key directions is a push to develop in-house expertise for functions that have increasingly been supported by external consultants.
Somanathan has asked ministries and departments to train officers in preparing and tendering documents, drafting legislation, managing dispute mechanisms and other specialised skills, rather than hiring consultants from various consulting agencies.
He also pointed to courses available on the iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training) platform, saying the theoretical knowledge available through these courses can be used for capacity enhancement.
The emphasis comes against a broader government effort to create a continuous learning culture within the civil services. In April 2026, Somanathan said future leadership in the civil services would be defined by competence, not merely seniority, while stressing the need to take Mission Karmayogi to districts and strengthen last-mile governance.
Capacity building linked to Viksit Bharat
Somanathan has underlined continuous capacity building and upskilling of government personnel as necessary to meet the future demands and objectives of Viksit Bharat.
The July 22 meeting also focused on governance processes and the need for a whole-of-government approach. The latest direction on specialised skills fits into this broader focus on strengthening administrative capacity and improving coordination within government.
Ministries also told to coordinate earlier
The action points also call for greater interaction among stakeholder ministries and departments before a proposal is finalised for consideration by the Cabinet.
Initial discussions at this stage, Somanathan said, should be encouraged to avoid delays later and facilitate seamless implementation.
Government departments have relied on consultants for years
The push to develop internal expertise comes against a longstanding practice of government departments engaging private consultants for specialised assignments.
Companies including McKinsey, Ernst & Young, PwC and Deloitte have been involved in various government projects over the years.
In July 2025, Union Minister of State for Rural Development Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry had hired 362 consultants.
Of these, 325 consultants were engaged by different divisions of the Department of Rural Development and 37 by the Department of Land Resources, as of July 25, 2025. The consultants were hired through institutions, autonomous bodies, public sector enterprises and other entities.
Pemmasani said the consultants supported the ministry in day-to-day coordination with States and Union Territories, allowing officers to focus on core policy issues and meet prescribed milestones.
Consultancy has extended across policy and development work
The use of external expertise is not new. In July 2017, then Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh told the Lok Sabha that NITI Aayog had engaged Ernst & Young to promote public-private partnerships in infrastructure in the states.
He also said a consortium of McKinsey & Company and IPE Global, as well as Boston Consulting Group and Piramal Foundation Education Limited, had been engaged for work related to transforming health and education in states under the Development Support Services for States programme.
IPE Global, along with Horwath HTL France and Crowe Horwath HTL Consultants Pvt. Ltd, was also engaged for preparing Concept Development Plans and Detailed Master Plans for selected islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
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 buffer stock management of pulses.
The larger shift is towards institutional capability
The latest direction places the emphasis on ensuring that government officers themselves develop the skills required to handle increasingly complex administrative responsibilities.
The approach also aligns with Mission Karmayogi, which seeks to make capacity building an ongoing part of public administration. The broader objective is to ensure that specialised knowledge is developed and retained within the government, strengthening institutional capacity over the long term.
BI Bureau
