Employment is a “soft” subject compared to labour standards – the hard core of the International Labour Organisation’s mandate and agenda. The contribution that the agency can make to a member country regarding employment generally takes the form of assistance in developing approaches, strategies and programmes, rather than direct action. As such, it has significantly influenced Indian policy on the subject. On the other hand, the ILO has gained substantially from India’s expertise and experience in formulating its own approaches and applying them to employment promotion policies and programmes in other developing countries. The collaboration, mostly in the realm of ideas, has thus been fruitful for both and perhaps for the rest of the world as well.