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Cabinet approves ₹60,000-cr ITI upgradation plan, 5 NSTIs to be revamped
In a bid to upgrade skilling infrastructure in the country, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new Industrial Training Institute (ITI) upgradation scheme that will focus on revamping 1,000 government ITIs in a hub-and-spoke arrangement with industry-aligned revamped trades. This scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2024–25.
The scheme will be implemented over a five-year period as a centrally sponsored scheme at a cost of ₹60,000 crore (Central share: ₹30,000 crore, State share: ₹20,000 crore, and Industry share: ₹10,000 crore), with co-financing to the extent of 50 per cent of the central share by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, equally.
'The financial assistance provided under various schemes in the past was suboptimal to meet the full upgradation needs of ITIs, particularly in addressing growing investment requirements for infrastructure upkeep, capacity expansion, and the introduction of capital-intensive, new-age trades. To overcome this, a need-based investment provision has been kept under the proposed scheme, allowing flexibility in fund allocation based on the specific infrastructure, capacity, and trade-related requirements of each institution,' said the Union Cabinet in a statement.
Besides, the Union Cabinet also approved the setting up of five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling in the existing five National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs), namely Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur, and Ludhiana. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced this in her Budget speech in February.
The first NSTI opened in 1963, and currently there are 33 such institutes in the country. The primary focus of NSTIs is on training trainers.
The ITI upgradation scheme aims to skill over 2 million youth through courses that address the human capital needs of industries. The scheme will focus on ensuring alignment between local workforce supply and industry demand, thereby facilitating industries, including MSMEs, in accessing employment-ready workers.
'By addressing long-standing challenges in infrastructure, course relevance, employability, and the perception of vocational training, the scheme aims to position ITIs at the forefront to cater to skilled manpower requirements, aligned to the nation's journey to becoming a global manufacturing and innovation powerhouse,' the statement by the Union Cabinet said.
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