Part 2: Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease on creating great ancestors, India’s development journey and ‘regulatory cholesterol’

Jul 1, 2025

Manish Sabharwal, Co-founder of Teamlease, discusses the misalignment of India's educational system with job market needs. He tackles the challenges of higher education funding and the importance of vocational training for economic growth. Manish shares insights on balancing his diverse roles across non-profits and businesses, highlighting the significance of self-discovery in personal growth. He also addresses the socio-economic dynamics in India, advocating for teamwork to rebuild trust and progress, alongside reflections on technology's role in societal change.

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INSIGHT

Higher Education's Signaling Crisis

College's value largely lies in signaling rather than actual education quality.
India's higher education struggles with underfunding and regulatory restrictions, limiting university autonomy and growth potential.

INSIGHT

India's Economic Complexity Gap

India’s economic complexity far exceeds its current capacity utilization.
India operates like a 10-horsepower engine running on 2-3 horsepower, showing immense unrealized potential.

ADVICE

Strengthen India Systematically

India should focus on strengthening through urbanization, formalization, industrialization, and financialization.
Devolving funds, functions, and functionaries to local governments is crucial for good urbanization.

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Manish Sabharwal isn’t an easy man to nail down. By that, I don’t just mean it was hard to nail down a time on his calendar to meet me for the podcast, which it was. Like with most founders and guests on First Principles, the gap between when I first invite them and when they finally appear is usually measured in months, sometimes years. I had first emailed Manish for First Principles in January 2023.

But I’m saying Manish is hard to nail down also because he defies - resists - categorisation.

Sure, he co-founded Teamlease, one of India’s largest recruitment and human resource providers. It employs over 400,000 people, is listed on the stock exchanges, and is a great barometer of broader employment trends in India.

But Manish is no longer involved with the day-to-day operations of the company, while still being the largest individual shareholder.

Instead, he leads a “portfolio life”, dividing his time serving on the boards of think tanks, regulatory bodies, universities, non-profits, and even private companies like Phonepe; advising companies and the government on a host of topics like labour markets, regulation, employment, education, economic policy and reforms; being a columnist; and reading books.

Oh yeah, he says he’s read a book a week for the last - wait for this - 42 years!

Thus, when I sat down with Manish last Thursday, I went in prepared, or as prepared as I could be, with my research and questions. But 10 minutes into the conversation, I decided to drop the conversation narrative I had in mind and instead let the conversation go where it needed to.

Yes, we do cover entrepreneurship, ambition, and finding product-market fit by letting your customers guide your evolution, but we also go much further into topics that we normally don’t. For example, India’s macroeconomic and geopolitical chances, ‘regulatory cholesterol’, higher education and the jobs crisis. All peppered with pithy aphorisms, vivid analogies, and memorable quotes every few minutes, this is something I’ve remembered Manish doing since I first met him as a journalist in the early 2010s.

Welcome to First Principles.

This episode was produced by Hari Krishna, and the mixing and mastering of the episode was done by Rajiv CN.

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