Govt approves Rs 436 cr outlay for skilling 4 lakh persons

The government on Wednesday announced Rs 436 crore outlay for skilling 4 lakh professionals in futuristic areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cybersecurity over the next three years. The 'Future Skills PRIME' programme will be jointly rolled out by the information technology ministry and industry body Nasscom, and will seek to position the initiative as India stack for digital talent.

India is upping the ante in digital skilling at a time when it is poised to see over 90 million people joining the overall workforce by 2030. Indian IT giants have been investing over Rs 1,000 crore per year to address the reskilling and upskilling requirements of their employees, given the magnitude of the challenge.

"The programme will increase employability. It will add digital value to our talent pool," Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters. He said the government has approved Rs 436 crore outlay for Future Skills PRIME.

In the last phase, two lakh IT employees were trained under skilling program, and the new initiative will expand the scope beyond IT professionals to others keen to upskill themselves in areas like AI, Cyber security, blockchain.