PM-SETU Completes One Year: 850 ITIs Identified for Upgrade

PM-SETU, short for Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs, completes one year on 4 October 2026. The scheme was launched on 4 October 2025 to turn government Industrial Training Institutes into modern, industry-aligned centres, with industry sitting inside the governance of each cluster rather than outside it.

The money and the design

The scheme carries an outlay of ₹60,000 crore. Of this the Centre puts in ₹30,000 crore, the States ₹20,000 crore and industry ₹10,000 crore. Component I covers 1,000 government ITIs, made up of 200 Hub ITIs and 800 Spoke ITIs; on average four spokes hang off each hub and share its advanced workshops, digital learning systems and incubation space. Hubs also house innovation centres, training-of-trainers facilities, production units and placement services. Component II adds capacity at five National Skill Training Institutes — Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Ludhiana — through sector-specific National Centres of Excellence.

Where it stands after a year

The National Steering Committee, chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, has cleared the move from a pilot to a nationwide rollout across all 200 identified clusters. The 14 approved Strategic Investment Plans are spread over eight States and one Union Territory, and the anchor partners behind them range from steel and pharmaceutical firms to defence electronics, healthcare and infrastructure companies.

Industry in the driving seat

Each upgraded cluster is run through a special purpose vehicle in which the Anchor Industry Partner holds 51% and the Centre and the State hold 24.5% each. A firm that wants in must file a Strategic Investment Plan first. The vehicle then shapes the curriculum, the way training is delivered, the infrastructure and the exposure students get on factory floors.

Courses and foreign partners

The Directorate General of Training has introduced 32 new-age courses under the Craftsmen Training Scheme, covering artificial intelligence, cyber security, additive manufacturing, electric vehicles, semiconductor technology, robotics, green hydrogen, drones, the internet of things, solar energy, 5G and software testing. For advanced skilling, India has signed memoranda with Singapore for NSTI Chennai, France for NSTI Kanpur and Australia for NSTI Bhubaneswar, and exchanged a joint declaration of intent with Germany for NSTI Hyderabad.

The base the scheme builds on

ITIs, government and private together, have grown from 9,776 in 2014 to 13,888 in 2026, a rise of 42%. Enrolment has gone from 9.51 lakh in the 2014-15 session to 14.70 lakh in 2025-26, up 54%. Training under the Craftsmen Training Scheme runs from six months to two years depending on the trade, and ITIs remain under the administrative and financial control of State governments, while the Directorate General of Training frames policy, curriculum, affiliation norms, instructor training and trade testing.