The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship provided an update on the Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs (PM-SETU) scheme, which has a total outlay of ₹60,000 crore with funding distribution of ₹30,000 crore central share, ₹20,000 crore state share, and ₹10,000 crore industry share. The scheme consists of two components: Component I focuses on upgrading 1,000 Government ITIs (200 Hub ITIs and 800 Spoke ITIs) in a Hub and Spoke model with smart classrooms, modern labs, digital content, and industry-aligned new courses, while Component II involves capacity augmentation of five NSTIs in Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur, and Ludhiana, including setting up sector-specific National Centres of Excellence with global partnerships for trainer development and curriculum creation.
The National Steering Committee has approved six Strategic Investment Plans submitted by Anchor Industry Partners, including three from Telangana, one from Andhra Pradesh, one from Odisha, and one from Gujarat. The approved clusters include Visakhapatnam Cluster in Andhra Pradesh (Govt. ITI, Vishncharapalem as Hub with three Spoke ITIs), Keonjhar-Barbil Cluster in Odisha (Govt. ITI, Barbil as Hub with four Spoke ITIs), Surat Cluster in Gujarat (Govt. ITI, Surat as Hub with four Spoke ITIs), and three clusters in Telangana: Old City Cluster (Govt. ITI, Old City as Hub with four Spoke ITIs), Patancheru Cluster (Govt. ITI, Patancheru as Hub with four Spoke ITIs), and Sangareddy Cluster (Govt. ITI, Sangareddy as Hub with four Spoke ITIs).
For the upgradation of NSTIs, an Expression of Interest has been floated. The State Government of Maharashtra has identified three clusters with Hub ITIs in Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, and Pune districts and has floated a Request for Proposal for industry proposals, with no proposals currently pending before the NSC. Madhya Pradesh has identified twenty clusters comprising 20 Hub ITIs and 81 Spoke ITIs and has similarly floated an RFP, with no proposals pending before the NSC.
Implementation progress shows that 36 States/UTs have constituted their State Steering Committee led by Chief Secretaries, while 23 States/UTs have floated proposals to invite industry interest. The scheme is proposed to be implemented in a phased manner over five years. This information was provided by Minister of State Jayant Chaudhary in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.