NEW CENTRALLY SPONSORED SCHEME FOR SKILLING ANNOUNCED AS 4th SCHEME UNDER THE PRIME MINISTER’S PACKAGE

Union Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a new centrally sponsored scheme as the 4^th scheme under the Prime Minister’s package, for skilling in collaboration with State governments and industry. While presenting the Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament today, the Finance Minister said that 20 lakh youth will be skilled over a 5-year period and 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes will be upgraded in hub and spoke arrangements with outcome orientation. The Finance Minister stated that course content and design will be aligned to the skill needs of industry and new courses will be introduced for emerging needs.

With regard to skilling loans, the Finance Minister announced that the Model Skill Loan Scheme will be revised to facilitate loans up to ` 7.5 lakh with a guarantee from a government promoted Fund. This measure is expected to help 25,000 students every year.