Indian Economy News

More than 15.78 lakh candidates benefited from the ‘FutureSkills PRIME’ programme

The Government of India is further establishing the Nation's digital capabilities through its flagship Digital India Programme. This initiative focuses on providing IT-based career opportunities for residents of small towns and cities. The primary thrust of this effort is the FutureSkills PRIME initiative, which NASSCOM, in conjunction with the Government, has developed to meet the increasing demand for qualified professionals in emerging technology fields. This platform offers over 500 courses and more than 2,000 digital fluency pathways, enabling students to create a personalised educational experience. As of November 2025, approximately 15.78 million candidates benefited from this initiative, with about 41 percent being women, and nearly 85 percent of all learners coming from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. As a result of this outreach, enrolments have steadily increased each year, as individuals throughout India continue to seek digital skills education. 

To complement these initiatives in skilling, the Government has also established Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI-CoEs) across sectors identified as priorities for growth and improvement: Health Care, Sustainable Cities, and Agriculture. The Centres of Excellence include collaboration with some of India's leading universities and institutions, including IISc Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Ropar; each of these institutions will work on projects that will transform the way we approach many aspects of our lives today. Examples of these projects include the development of an AI-based clean-air monitoring system in Delhi; traffic flood prediction systems for Surat; and digital municipal services integrated in Kanpur. In agriculture, automatic weather stations, pest identification technologies, and AgriLLM language models have been developed, increasing farm productivity.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.