PMKVY Scheme Records Only 7% Placements Despite Training 28.5 Lakh Candidates

India's flagship skill development program, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), has placed only 7% of the 28.5 lakh (2.85 million) candidates it has trained since its launch in 2015, according to a recent report by Business Standard. The placement rate, calculated based on data from the PMKVY dashboard, shows a significant disparity between the number of individuals trained and those who have secured employment.

Indian Railways Minister has announced no precedence for Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana applicants in job applications. Of the 2.85 million candidates trained, only 200,224 have found jobs, leading to concerns about the effectiveness of the program in bridging the gap between skill certification and employment generation. The scheme, which is part of the Skill India initiative, has seen multiple revisions and currently receives an annual budget of approximately ₹6,000 crore.

The dashboard data also reveals that out of the 3.54 million candidates enrolled, 683,000 dropped out, while 2.04 million were assessed and 1.95 million received certification. The success rate varied greatly across industries, with telecom leading at 17.5%, followed by handicrafts at 14.4% and apparel at 13.3%. However, sectors like management training, automotive, and media and entertainment exhibited much lower placement rates, registering 1.1%, 3.4%, and 3.8% respectively.

Media and entertainment also had the highest dropout rates at 26.5%, while IT and IT-enabled services, as well as tourism and hospitality, followed with 25.9% and 24.9% dropout shares respectively. The government has shifted its focus under PMKVY 4.0 from merely tracking placements to monitoring candidates for a year post-certification to gauge their employment status, further education, or engagement in additional training.