Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Government of India is preparing a future-ready workforce. These skills are required in an ecosystem of cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Internet of Things (IoT), Semiconductors, Cloud Computing, etc across key sectors.

India is a skills capital in IT and known for its strong talent pipeline and skilled workforce, with its IT sector globally recognised for high-quality talent. As per global assessments such as the Stanford AI Index, India ranks among the leading nations in AI adoption, preparedness and ecosystem vibrancy. India also accounts for around 20% of the global semiconductor design workforce, reflecting its emphasis on skilling and talent development. With the rapid adoption of digital technologies across sectors, developing a digitally skilled workforce has become critical for sustaining this growth.

The Government accords priority to digital skilling and capacity building of youth across the country, including those from North Eastern and Himalayan region. Towards this objective, various Ministries and Departments in partnership with industry and with active contribution from academia and R&D institutions are implementing flagship programmes to promote digital literacy, employability and skills in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber Security, Data Analytics, Drone Technology, Cloud Computing and Semiconductor Design.

Digital India Programme:

As part of the same strategy, the Government of India launched the Digital India Programme in July, 2015 and has been taking steps to ensure that we continue to retain our advantage in IT skills and is promoting skilling in emerging technologies through various initiatives including FutureSkills PRIME programme, so that digital technologies improve the life of every citizen, expand India’s digital economy and create investment and employment opportunities in India. These programmes have enabled large-scale participation of youth and professionals across the country. The outreach model is not only implemented through the FutureSkills PRIME portal but is also supported by the resource centres of C-DAC and NIELIT.

FutureSkills PRIME Programme:

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has initiated a programme titled “FutureSkills PRIME” (FSP), jointly with NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies.) for skilling/ re-skilling/ up-skilling of candidates in new/emerging technologies, aimed at making India a cutting-edge digital talent nation. The FutureSkills PRIME offers industry aligned courses. The platform is an agile model that allows continuous updation of skilling courses in sync with the skill demand.

Key features are:

●    Skilling, reskilling, and upskilling in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, IoTs, Cyber Security, Blockchain, AR/VR, etc.

●    Courses are developed in the consultation with industry to align with actual employment needs.

●    The Portal can be accessible online anytime-anywhere to earn skill certificates in line with their aptitude and aspirations at https://futureskillsprime.in/

●  Currently, the FSP portal hosts more than 500 courses which are industry aligned and various Global OEM partners are collaborating as part of the FSP ecosystem.

●    So far, more than 34 lakh candidates have registered on the portal, out of which there have been 23 lakh+ candidates enrolled/trained in various courses, out of which 13 lakh+ candidates have been completed/certified. This includes 41% women and over 86% candidates are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

●    In addition, 22 CDAC/NIELIT Centres have been grouped as Lead and Co-Lead Resource Centres (RCs) for the 10 emerging technologies, and they are mandated to train the Government officials and conduct the bootcamps.

●    In total, the Resource Centres (RCs) have trained 32,700+ Government officials, 2,367 trainers and 40,400+ candidates under more than 420+ bootcamps.

The Details of State wise Enrolled/Trained and Completion/Certified candidates under FutureSkills PRIME Programme are as under:

 

State	Enrolled/Trained	Completion/Certified
Andaman and Nicobar	230	108
Andhra Pradesh	4,34,489	2,44,096
Arunachal Pradesh	150	52
Assam	6,074	2,874
Bihar	45,402	23,740
Chandigarh	1,702	742
Chhattisgarh	11,853	5,767
Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu	146	71
Goa	1,065	302
Gujarat	26,555	11,505
Haryana	36,033	19,173
Himachal Pradesh	4,258	1,791
Jammu and Kashmir	6,339	3,630
Jharkhand	15,750	6,986
Karnataka	2,10,043	1,51,701
Kerala	1,42,732	94,920
Ladakh	149	31
Lakshadweep	38	23
Madhya Pradesh	71,396	31,826
Maharashtra	2,23,044	1,15,703
Manipur	653	232
Meghalaya	556	295
Mizoram	91	40
Nagaland	250	118
NCT of Delhi	38,562	17,691
Odisha	80,386	58,142
Puducherry	7,298	6,133
Punjab	23,158	12,504
Rajasthan	23,562	10,716
Sikkim	753	371
Tamil Nadu	5,89,429	3,61,336
Telangana	1,52,207	84,147
Tripura	1,663	1,146
Uttar Pradesh	1,24,752	72,892
Uttarakhand	12,439	6,359
West Bengal	46,650	23,357
Others	45,557	19,625

 

Year-wise funds allocation/utilization details:

FutureSkills PRIME programme is implemented as a Central Sector Scheme so, the funds are allocated Centrally and are not apportioned State-wise. The year-wise allocated/utilized funds during the last 5 years are as under:

 

Year-Wise	Funds Allocated	Funds Utilized
FY 2022-23	Rs. 26.59 Cr.	Rs. 25.72 Cr.
FY 2023-24	Rs. 23.58 Cr.	Rs. 23.55 Cr.
FY 2024-25	Rs. 55.97 Cr.	Rs. 51.94 Cr.
FY 2025-26	Rs. 98.479 Cr.	Rs. 80.81 Cr.
FY 2026-27	Rs. 137.17 Cr.	--

 

Coverage of FSP in North Eastern and Himalayan Region including Sikkim:

●    A total of 33,000+ candidates are enrolled/trained and more than 16,000 candidates have been completed/certified through the FSP portal. This includes 700+ candidates enrolled/trained in Sikkim.

●  In addition, through NIELIT centres, so far, 4,000+ Government officials (including 500+ from Sikkim), and 5,400+candidates (including 800+ from Sikkim) under bootcamps have been trained.

●    Further, SSC-NASSCOM has signed MoUs with 17 State Governments (including Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh) and 2000+ academic institutions/universities (including 14 from North Eastern & Himalayan region) for adoption of FSP courses into academic curricula under the provisions of the National Credit Framework (NCrF).

Other Initiatives in North Eastern Region including Sikkim:

IndiaAI Mission:

The Government of India approved the IndiaAI Mission for the development of the overall AI ecosystem in the country.

• Under the FutureSkills pillar of the India AI Mission, IndiaAI Data and AI Labs are being established to create AI-ready talent by providing hands-on training in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and related emerging technologies, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
• The primary objective of these Data and AI Labs is capacity building and skill development. Accordingly, the Labs are focusing on training and certification activities.
• So far, 27 IndiaAI Data and AI Labs are established through NIELIT Centres, this includes 10 institutions from the States of North Eastern region and 5 from the Himalayan region.

National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT):

●    NIELIT conducts education, skilling and digital competency programmes in Information, Electronics and Communications Technology (IECT), including Drone operation, Data Analytics and Cyber Security, through Degree/Diploma programmes and skill-based long-term and short-term courses.

●  NIELIT has a wide network of 56 own centres and 9000+ partner institutes spread across the country for delivering the training even to the rural and backward areas of the country.

●  Out of the 56 centres, 22 are located in the North Eastern Region, including Gangtok Centre in the State of Sikkim.

●    Through this network, 31 Lakh+ candidates have been trained by NIELIT under various categories of programmes, including those in emerging technologies in the last 03 years.

●  This includes 3.05 Lakh + candidates from the North Eastern Region comprising 20,000+ candidates from the State of Sikkim.

This information was given by Union Minister of Electronics and IT Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in Lok Sabha on 12.08.2026

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Vinod Kumar / Kanishk Sharma

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