Germany turns to India for skilled workers

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Germany turns to India for skilled workers"

Podcast: Business Daily by BBC World Service
Host: Tim Mansell
Date: March 17, 2026
Episode Theme: Exploring Germany’s strategic partnership with India to address labor shortages by recruiting young Indian apprentices in skilled trades and professions.

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Episode Overview

This episode examines Germany's growing reliance on young Indian workers to fill critical skilled trade positions as the country's domestic workforce shrinks. Through the stories of Indian apprentices, German employers, and recruiters, the episode sheds light on the motives, challenges, and profound impact of this migration—on both Germany and India.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis of Indo-German Apprenticeship Initiatives (01:17–04:17)

• Initial Pilot: In late 2022, 13 young Indians arrived in southern Germany to begin apprenticeships in the meat business.
• Expansion: Just over three years later, over 200 Indian apprentices are working across butcher shops in the region, with numbers growing in other trades such as mechanics, truck drivers, and even kindergarten teachers.
• Mutual Necessity:
  • Indian perspective: Many young Indians are seeking better living standards, social security, and reliable income.
  • German perspective: German businesses are facing acute labor shortages, particularly as more young Germans pursue university over vocational training.

"Germany without foreign workers, without people from other countries couldn't exist. We need people from abroad. And without them, our society wouldn't work."
— Indian Apprentice (02:12)

2. Personal Stories of Indian Apprentices (03:26–04:56, 13:06–14:14)

• Ajay Kumar Chandapaka: A mechanic apprentice from Hyderabad, trained as a mechanical engineer in India but lacked hands-on experience and job prospects.
  • Motivation to move: higher salary, better safety standards, advanced technology.
  • First time leaving home and flying abroad.
  • Personal and professional growth through German apprenticeship.

"When I landed in Germany it felt like a dream."
— Ajay Kumar Chandapaka (04:59)

• Anneka Maria Shazi: Studied computer science in Kerala and sought international experience. Used earnings to renovate her family home.

"Either I need to buy like or build a house or I need to renovate it ... And I did everything by myself, like every plan and everything."
— Anneka Maria Shazi (13:42)

• Pratyay Saikiya: From Assam with a degree in food technology. Chose Germany for equal dignity of all jobs, strict work ethics, and future prospects.
  • Intends to build a future in Germany rather than return to India.

"I thought that maybe it would be a good opportunity to work in a country where, you know, all sorts of jobs are treated with equal dignity."
— Pratyay Saikiya (14:56)

3. Why German Businesses Turn to India (05:06–06:44)

• Labor Shortage: Boomer retirement causing a net loss of ~400,000 workers annually.
• Youth Preference: Young Germans favor university over skilled trades, resulting in talent scarcity.
• International Recruitment: Agencies like India Works facilitate recruiting Indian apprentices for roles Germans aren't filling.

"We just couldn't get young people anymore. And then India came to us and told us they had too many young people and they'd love to send them to Germany to learn a trade ... this was our last chance for survival."
— Yogi Lederer, head of local butcher’s guild (12:13)

4. The Role of Recruitment Agencies (06:44–08:31)

• India Works & Magic Billion: Collaborative effort between Indian and German agencies to bridge the workforce gap.
  • Initially, pilot programs started with butchery, an unexpected challenge given Indian cultural sensitivities around cows.
  • The program quickly expanded to include bakers, masons, road builders, healthcare workers, and more.

"India, as you know, is a country with 600 million people below the age of 25 ... there's a huge labor surplus in the country."
— Aditi Banerjee, Magic Billion co-founder (07:41)

5. Scaling Up: Numbers & Professions (09:22–10:20)

• Growth: From 13 apprentices in 2022 to 200 in butchery alone by 2026.
• Broader Impact: 775 enrolled Indian candidates are training across a spectrum of skilled trades for upcoming years.

"For 2026 we have 775 enrolled candidates who have already passed their language certificate and language exam or are still undergoing training across the board in all sorts of different."
— Hand von Unen Sternberg, recruitment agency leader (09:54–10:10)

6. Changing the Image of Migration (10:30–11:13)

• Beyond Doctors and Engineers: The traditional image of skilled Indian emigrants is broadening—now including those with high school education pursuing trade apprenticeships.
• Financial Uplift: Young Indians can earn up to ten times more than in comparable skilled roles back home.

"You don't have to go outside of India only once you have a bachelor's or a master's, you can go even after you've completed your high school at age of 18."
— Aditi Banerjee (10:36)

7. Kindergarten Teachers: The Next Frontier (16:01–17:30)

• Public Sector Shortages: Town halls mirror the hiring challenges of private businesses.
• Initial Recruitment: The city of Weil am Rhein recruits Indian apprentices for kindergarten teaching—contrary to stereotypes, initial recruits were men.

"Actually they're men. At the beginning I thought, oh well, we will get Indian ladies coming to Germany, but actually those two we have found are men."
— Diana Stuka, Mayor (17:20)

8. National Policy and Future Outlook (17:30–18:26)

• Political Backing: Discussions at the national level (German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Indian PM Narendra Modi) about migration channels for skilled workers.
• Ambitious Goals: Recruitment agencies aim to bring 10,000 Indian workers to Germany by 2030—and are on track due to worsening demographic challenges domestically.

"We started this company in 2024 and our goal was to bring in 10,000 people by the end of the decade 2030. We are very confident that we are reaching this goal ..."
— Hand von Unen Sternberg (18:03)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Yogi Lederer on Survival:
  "If you had not made this investment in young people from India, your business would have collapsed. I wouldn't be in business today if it weren't for India." (12:13)

• Anneka Maria Shazi on Achievements:
  "I bought every furniture, everything by myself. So I was so busy that three months. So I didn't even get to relax." (13:42)

• Pratyay Saikiya on Life Choices:
  "If I were to go back to India, I would have never come here in the first place ... maybe I should build a future here and adapt to the life here." (15:41)

• Diana Stuka on Surprising Outcomes:
  "...those two we have found are men." (17:28)

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------| | 01:17 | Introduction to the program and early apprentices| | 02:12 | Indian viewpoints on labor migration | | 03:26 | Ajay’s personal apprenticeship journey | | 05:06 | Employer perspective on labor shortages | | 06:44 | The beginning and scale-up of international recruitment | | 07:41 | India’s demographic context by recruiter | | 12:13 | Butcher guild head describes business survival | | 13:42 | Anneka’s personal achievement and family support | | 14:56 | Pratyay’s motivations and long-term plans | | 16:01 | Public sector and kindergarten hiring | | 17:30 | National policy and future scaling |

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Conclusion

This episode paints a vivid picture of Germany’s new reliance on skilled Indian apprentices to keep vital trades and public services running. The partnership is shown to invigorate German businesses and transform the lives of young Indians, signaling a shift towards a more diverse, interconnected workforce shaped by demographic and economic realities in both countries.

Transcript

[Podcast Advertiser]

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[Tim Mansell]

Hello and welcome to Business daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Tim Mansell. In late 2022, 13 young people arrived in southern Germany from India. They'd all signed on for a three year apprenticeship in the meat business, working at family butchers across the region.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

I wanted to make my living standard so high, yeah, I wanted good Social Security. Now I'm taking care of my family. Every month I can send money to my family proudly.

[Tim Mansell]

Today, just over three years later, there are some 200 young Indians in butcher shops across southern Germany. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Now ambitious young people are coming from Delhi, from Kashmir, from Assam, to learn their trade as mechanics, truck drivers and even kindergarten teachers.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Germany without foreign workers, without people from other countries couldn't exist. We need people from abroad. And without them, our society wouldn't work.

[Tim Mansell]

And nor, it seems, would India with its huge surplus of young people desperate for well paying jobs. That's all coming up in today's program. It's quite a steep climb up here. It smells brand new. It is still got the plastic wrapping on the seat. The Dold Haulage company has just invested in its first two electric trucks. We're in the Black Forest, a few kilometres from the city of Freiburg. The man at the wheel is Sebastian Dold. His grandfather started the business in the 1960s. Today they operate 45 trucks as well as logistics and warehouse services. So right now we are driving through

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

the village of Buchenbach towards the workshop where our mechanic AJ is working.

[Tim Mansell]

Sebastian has just taken on two apprentices from India. One of them, Ajay Kumar Chandapaka, is training to be a mechanic. He's from Hyderabad. AJ is 25. My father is a construction worker and

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

my mother is a housewife. We came from like village background to City.

[Tim Mansell]

Like 10 years ago I completed my studies there. I studied mechanical engineering in India. But I have like no hands on

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

experience and I thought ausbuilding would be

[Tim Mansell]

like a better role for me. Ausbildung is the German word for apprenticeship training. AJ graduated from university in 2022, but says there was stiff competition for an appropriate job in India. There was also the question of how much he'd be paid there.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

In India we don't get that much of income.

[Tim Mansell]

So coming to Germany, one of the motivations for you was the salary that you would earn here and also the standard of working, of the safety, the

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

knowledge I get here and the technology that Europe has.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

I think India doesn't have that yet.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Like personally and professionally in both ways I think it helps me to grow.

[Tim Mansell]

Is this the first time that you've left India? It's the first time I boarded a flight.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

I never left my state before.

[Tim Mansell]

When I landed in Germany it felt like a dream. Sebastian Dolt is happy too.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

We've been having interviews with A.J.

[Tim Mansell]

i think two to three times. And his German was really good. He was motivated, very motivated. You could see that from the very

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

first meeting we had online.

[Tim Mansell]

Why did you recruit an apprentice from India? So the situation in Germany is quite

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

difficult in terms of talent acquisition because we're seeing lots of young people not really wanting to go into mechanic stuff, into truck driving apprenticeships. They just want to go to university because it's seen as a better way of education and better career related chance. But in reality it's more or less

[Tim Mansell]

the other way around because we're seeing

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

a shortage, a huge shortage when it comes to mechanics, when it comes to truck drivers, all these sorts of jobs.

[Tim Mansell]

In fact, Doll has just taken on an apprentice truck driver also from India. He arrived in January. The need for labour in Germany is apparently endless. There is a net loss of some 400,000 workers every year in the German labor market.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

We have a boomer generation which is now in large scale, retiring. We don't have as many young workers Joining the job market. So that's the gap, which is actually explaining, I think, a big part of that labor shortage.

[Tim Mansell]

This is Hand von Ungen Sternberg. He runs a recruitment agency called India Works, which identifies candidates in India for jobs in Germany. The company is less than 2 years old. Before that, Handierck worked in the Chamber of Crafts in Freiburg, which, rather like a chamber of commerce, represents local businesses in a wide range of trades.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

Basically, I was in charge of supporting companies in their fight against labour shortage. And I got a mail from India, an email, an email which hit my inbox. And this email suggested that there is a recruitment company in India which supports in bringing in Indian talents for various kinds of industries and jobs. And we thought, let's give it a chance.

[Tim Mansell]

The email had come from an Indian recruitment agency, Magic Billion, a company founded by Aditi Banerjee and her father.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

India, as you know, is a country with 600 million people below the age of 25. 600 million and only 12 million come into the workforce every year. So there's a huge labor surplus in the country.

[Tim Mansell]

They sent similar emails to cities all over Germany, but Freiburg was the only one to show any real interest.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

After our first conversation, we thought about certain job roles where we see desperate employers who are not finding young people to join the job. I contacted the head of the local butcher guild and I just introduced my idea and say, are you up for something, which sounds a bit awkward at first, to go to India to get actually young people and start something new.

[Tim Mansell]

So he was enthusiastic.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

Everyone was enthusiastic, including the butcher guild itself. Yeah.

[Tim Mansell]

That the first people to sign up were butchers came as a bit of a surprise to the Indians.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

We were taken aback, of course, when we were told that the first pilot program that they wanted to start with was for meat processing and to bring in future butchery candidates. You can imagine, for a country like India where the cow is a holy animal, it was a difficult first pilot to start with, I would say.

[Tim Mansell]

What had you expected?

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

We expected the typical technical roles, mechatronics, electronics and those kinds of roles.

[Tim Mansell]

Nonetheless, in late 2022, 13 young Indians arrived in Germany to pioneer the project in a number of small butchers businesses close to the Swiss border.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

We had a set of, I believe, five or six companies that were willing to try and test it. And then from that year onwards, it just increased.

[Tim Mansell]

Tell me about that increase.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

So there will be 200 apprentices starting in this year, meaning 26 from India. From India.

[Tim Mansell]

200.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

200, yeah. We have signed a contract with the State Butcher Guild.

[Tim Mansell]

So 13 in 2022, 200 in 2026. And that's just the butchers.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

For 2026 we have 775 enrolled candidates who have already passed their language certificate and language exam or are still undergoing

[Tim Mansell]

training across the board in all sorts of different.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

Right, that is butchers, bakers, masons, road builders, construction workers, healthcare truck drivers, electricians and more. Yeah.

[Tim Mansell]

Aditi Banerjee, who co founded Magic Billion, joined Hande in setting up India Works where she's also a joint managing director.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

I think the Indian stereotype is often of doctors and engineers. Those were the kinds of people with the ability to move out of India. And perhaps that's the unique value proposition we bring where access to Indian youth can today be given for various job roles. You don't have to go outside of India only once you have a bachelor's or a master's, you can go even after you've completed your high school age of 18. You can go and become an apprentice and then learn a skill trade where you'll be earning 10 times what you would be earning in India as a skilled professional.

[Tim Mansell]

The head of the butcher's guild in this part of Germany, the man who Hande turned to for advice is the energetic 65 year old Yogi Lederer. You'll find him behind the counter of his shop in Weil am Rhein, right on the Swiss border. He set this business up for 35 years ago with just three people. Today there are 40. When that first cohort of 13 arrived from India in 2022, two of them came to Yogi. We just couldn't get young people anymore. And then India came to us and told us they had too many young people and they'd love to send them to Germany to learn a trade. And I realized right from the start that this was our last chance for survival. This was your last chance? What does that mean? When I started out here 35 years

[Podcast Advertiser]

ago, there were eight butcher shops within

[Tim Mansell]

the radius of 10 kilometers. Eight. Now I'm the only one left. All the others who decided not to go down this path are gone. I think what you're saying is that if you had not made this investment in young people from India, your business would have collapsed. I wouldn't be in business today if it weren't for India. Those first two recruits have now finished their apprenticeships. They're still working for Yogi. In the meantime, he's taken on five more. One of those first two original recruits was Anneka Maria Shazi. She'd Taken a degree in computer science at university in Kerala. But she'd wanted to see the world,

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

I have to say, like this three years. I learned a lot in my life because when I first came here, I was only 21 years old. Now I'm becoming 25 years. I finished my house building and I finished my house building with some good points and I'm so proud of it.

[Tim Mansell]

Last autumn, Annika went home to India for a break and it was the first time she'd seen her family for three years. She was away for three months. She had a project to renovate the family home.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Before, when I come here, like that

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

was my biggest dream.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Either I need to buy like or build a house or I need to renovate it, renovate my house for my parents and my sister system. And I did everything by myself, like every plan and everything. I bought every furniture, everything by myself. So I was so busy that three months. So I didn't even get to relax. So really I needed to. I'm looking forward to go next year again.

[Tim Mansell]

So the money that you have earned here in Germany, you've used to renovate the house that your family lives in back in Kerala.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Yeah, right.

[Tim Mansell]

Annika is one of the trailblazers. Pratyay Saikiya is following her path. He's a quiet, thoughtful man from the state of Assam with a degree in food technology. He's near the end of his own apprenticeship with Yogi Ledere.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

After I left school, I applied for an engineering course, but it was in food technology. I was doing my internship semester, but during the same time I came across this opportunity to do an apprenticeship in Germany.

[Tim Mansell]

And why did you decide to come to Germany? What was attractive about Germany?

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

I thought that maybe it would be a good opportunity to work in a country where, you know, all sorts of jobs are treated with equal dignity. Another thing was that in India we have this perception of the German people, that they are very hard working, they are very strict with rules and regulations, they are super good at it. And I think that if we should learn something from someone, then we should learn from one of the best.

[Tim Mansell]

Do you think that having a German professional qualification that will give you a competitive edge later when it comes to finding other jobs? I'm thinking perhaps if you were ever to go back to India.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

Well, if I were to go back to India, I would have never come here in the first place. So another thing that I decided when I was gonna come here, I thought that maybe I should build a future here and adapt to the life here.

[Tim Mansell]

Butchers bakers, haulage firms. What's next? Well, kindergartens in Weil am rhein, there are 19 of them. And at the town hall, the mayor, Diana Stuka has exactly the same problem as her counterparts in the private sector.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

We can't fill all the jobs. We have to have more people. And we are looking for kindergarten teachers all over Germany. But nowadays we miss them all over the country. So we have to look for solutions. And getting them from abroad is one idea.

[Tim Mansell]

Diana Stucker has unapologetically taken a leaf out of Yogi Lederer's book.

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Because I know Yogi, I was totally convinced that this is a great idea. And I told my employees here in my city hall I want to do the same pattern. Trying to recruit young people from India for the job of as a kindergarten teacher.

[Tim Mansell]

Have you actually found specific people yet or is that process now ongoing?

[Indian Apprentices / Interviewees]

Yeah, we started last year in October and we have already found five to six people and actually two of them are very already excellent in German language to men. Actually they're men. At the beginning I thought, oh well, we will get Indian ladies coming to Germany, but actually those two we have found are men.

[Tim Mansell]

The German Chancellor Friedrich Melz was in India at the beginning of this year. He discussed security cooperation and the expansion of economic relations with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. He also said the two countries were paving paths for orderly migration through training and study programs. Acknowledging that well skilled workers were would secure Germany's prosperity. Hand von Unen Sternberg appears to have picked a good moment to launch India Works.

[German Employers / Industry Representatives]

We started this company in 2024 and our goal was to bring in 10,000 people by the end of the decade 2030. We are very confident that we are reaching this goal given the increase of numbers and also given that demographics is just worsening the situation in the job market in Germany.

[Tim Mansell]

That's all from today's Business Daily produced and presented by me, Tim Mansell. Thanks for listening. To hear more, just search for Business Daily wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

[Podcast Advertiser]

The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. And that's where it stands apart from other ad buyers. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority, skills, company revenue so you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. It's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of major ad networks. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn Ads and get $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com broadcast that's LinkedIn.com broadcast. Terms and conditions apply.