Published: October 4, 2026
StartupFeed Quick Take
- PM-SETU has identified 850 ITIs and cleared 14 clusters in its first year.
- Those 14 clusters carry Strategic Investment Plans worth ₹3,446 Cr.
- 36 states and union territories have set up a budget line, so cluster approvals should speed up next.
PM-SETU, the Centre’s ₹60,000 Cr plan to upgrade government ITIs, has identified 850 institutes and cleared its first 14 clusters one year after launch. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship shared the numbers in a factsheet on October 3, 2026.
The 850 ITIs break into 172 hub institutes and 678 spoke institutes. The 14 approved clusters carry investment plans worth ₹3,446 Cr between them. That is the money now committed on paper.
The scheme is bigger than those first clusters. PM-SETU aims to upgrade 1,000 government ITIs through a hub-and-spoke model. The 850 named so far put it most of the way to that target in year one.
The reach has widened fast. The factsheet says 36 states and union territories have identified clusters and created a dedicated budget head. Another 35 have set up state steering committees, and 26 have started inviting industry to take part.
What PM-SETU approved in year one
PM-SETU was launched on October 4, 2025, and ran as a pilot before going national. The Centre cleared the pan-India rollout across all 200 identified clusters in July 2026, letting states move at their own pace.
Cluster approvals have come in batches since. By early July the scheme had cleared five plans worth ₹1,237.58 Cr across Odisha, Gujarat and Telangana. By the one-year mark that running total had reached ₹3,446 Cr across 14 clusters.
Each cluster is built to a standard size. One hub ITI links to four spoke ITIs, and a cluster costs about ₹241 Cr over five years. That per-cluster figure explains the ₹3,446 Cr total neatly.
The money is shared three ways. The ₹60,000 Cr outlay splits into ₹30,000 Cr from the Centre, ₹20,000 Cr from states and ₹10,000 Cr from industry. The scheme also draws co-financing from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Which states and companies have moved
The clusters are spread across the country, and named companies are now anchoring them. In Jammu and Kashmir, two clusters were cleared with a combined ₹475 Cr. The Srinagar cluster got ₹235 Cr with Inderdeep Infra India as partner, and the Jammu cluster ₹240 Cr with Eagle Infra India.
Industry names are attached elsewhere too. The Surat cluster in Gujarat is anchored by ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India at about ₹240 Cr. In Odisha, Government ITI Barbil is the hub, with Jindal Naveen Awasar investing ₹240.21 Cr.
The model hands real control to these firms. Each upgraded ITI runs through a special purpose vehicle in which industry holds 51% and the government 49%, with the Centre co-funding up to 83%. Companies lead the curriculum, the equipment and the trainer upskilling.
Jayant Chaudhary, the skill development minister, set out the thinking behind the approach at the Surat approval.
“The classrooms of today must be designed around the jobs of tomorrow.”
Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. From the Ministry statement on the Surat cluster, 2026.
Why the ITI numbers matter for job seekers
The scale of the ITI system is the real story under the scheme. The total number of ITIs, government and private, has grown from 9,776 in 2014 to 13,888 in 2026. That is a rise of 42%.
More young people are inside that system too. Enrolment has climbed from 9.51 lakh in 2014-15 to 14.70 lakh in 2025-26, a rise of 54%. PM-SETU is the push to make that training match what employers actually want.
The course list is where the shift shows. The Directorate General of Training has added 32 new-age courses under the Craftsmen Training Scheme. They cover artificial intelligence, cyber security, electric vehicles, semiconductor technology, robotics, green hydrogen, drones and solar energy.
Five National Skill Training Institutes are being lifted to global standard as part of the plan. They sit in Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Ludhiana. The scheme is built to skill about 20 lakh youth over five years.
What this means for you: If you run or hire for a plant in a cluster city like Surat, Jammu or Barbil, your local ITI is being rebuilt around your sector. Watch for the anchor-partner opening in your state and apply to shape the curriculum early.
StartupFeed Insight
The headline count of 850 ITIs is the soft number. The hard one is 14 clusters with money committed, out of 200 planned, which means about 7% of the scheme is funded on paper after a full year. The gap between institutes identified and clusters paid for is where the real pace sits. With 36 states now holding a budget head, the next twelve months are about converting those budget lines into signed anchor partners. Expect the cleared-cluster count to pass 40 by October 2027 if the industry 51% model holds. Founders in EV, semiconductor and green-hydrogen hiring should track their state’s cluster list now, because the curriculum for their next shop-floor intake is being written this year.
By Saraswati Chaubey, Writer
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