The Economy and Employment wing of the Centre for Economic and Social Development (CESD) within SETU Aayog will play a crucial role in transforming Uttarakhand into a prosperous, skilled, and sustainable state, driving forward its economy and gainful employment generation which is aligned with state's vision and goals. Vertical will conduct comprehensive resource mapping activities to identify and efficiently utilize natural and economic resources, promote sustainable practices to ensure long-term viability and environmental conservation.

This vertical in collaboration with respective departments will drive State’s economic growth and employment opportunities by catalyzing economic development, facilitating skill development, fostering job creation, and ensuring sustainable resource utilization. The vertical aims to significantly contribute to Uttarakhand's major goals, including doubling the state's GDP within five years, enhancing productivity, and aligning with the Vision 2030 to accelerate SDG targets and achieving Viksit Uttarakhand 2047 objectives.

The vertical will assess the current economic landscape of Uttarakhand to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, develop strategic plans to harness regional advantages, particularly in sectors where the region such as mountainous terrain provides a competitive edge e.g. adventure tourism, high altitude value crops production, cold fishery etc.

This wing will help in increasing the productivity among larger population through new and strengthened training centers focused on priority sectors, catering separately to the mountain and plain regions’ skills requirements. Vertical will coordinate, collaborate, monitor, and assess the various skilling initiatives of the States and Centrally run schemes and will work with respective departments of the State and Central government to accelerate their disseminations among the larger population. This vertical will further curate and develop region-specific training plans to maximize the productivity gain, especially providing training in high-demand industry sectors. The wing will also be vested in training for trainers and assessors, ensuring the highest standards of skill development.

This vertical will identify and promote key job-creating activities, focusing on sectors like tourism, agriculture, forestry, and industry. The vertical will collaborate with various Chambers of Commerce to widen their involvement in the State to accelerate engagements with businesses and industries to create new job opportunities and improve existing employment conditions.

The wing will conduct economic assessments to factually evaluate the overall impact of the activities e.g. if the increase on tourists in the State is contributing to the wealth of the state or imposing more burden on its resources. Such assessment will require capturing carrying capacity, mapping resources such as major tourist destinations and what they offer and how could they be useful to the people of Uttarakhand.

Wing will foster customized local research and economic development specifically catering to the mountain and plain regions, encouraging innovation and technological advancements that will eventually help in establishing centers of excellence for high wealth-generating economic academics.