2015 skilling policy to be replaced with new one

The ministry of skills development and entrepreneurship will come up with a new policy on skilling to replace the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015, almost 10 years after the policy was launched to impart skills training in the country. The move is aimed at giving a renewed push to skilling in India while aligning it to the new age skills.

The ministry has engaged the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to draft a new policy that will set fresh targets and lay out a roadmap to achieve the government's vision of making India the skills capital of the world, a senior government official told ET.

According to the official, the BCG is expected to submit its report by the end of this year following which the ministry will come up with a new policy on skilling.

The national policy of 2015 aimed at creating a skilling ecosystem where quality skills training was imparted on a large scale and at a high speed to reap the benefits of India's demographic dividend and to prepare a skilled workforce for India as well as globally.

Since 2015, over 14 million candidates have been trained or oriented under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana till December 2023.

As per the International Labour Organisation, about 7-8 million youth enter India's workforce every year. This translates into skills imparted to roughly 25% of the new workforce that was added in the country in eight years from 2015 till 2013.

Besides, the ministry has set up a project steering committee under the chairmanship of secretary, MSDE to align the policy review with the expectations of the ministry and to monitor the progress on skilling every month.