The Skill India Mission (SIM) is a flagship executive scheme of the Government of India, launched on July 15, 2015, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was created to address the significant gap between India's large working-age population and its low rate of formally skilled labor, which was estimated at under five percent. The mission's initial goal was to train over 40 crore (400 million) people in various industry-relevant skills by 2022/2023.
The mission is managed by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), which was established in November 2014. It works as an umbrella framework that operationalized the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015. Its mechanism is structured around four functional arms: Institutional Training, Short-Term Training (STT), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for existing workers, and Apprenticeships. Key schemes under the SIM include the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), and the Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS). The institutional framework also involves the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a public-private partnership incorporated in 2008.
The mission has undergone a significant recent change, being upgraded to its 4.0 phase by 2026. In February 2025, the Union Cabinet approved a restructured SIM (2022–26) that merged PMKVY, PM-NAPS, and JSS into a single Central Sector Scheme. The focus has shifted from mere targets to outcomes, emphasizing On-the-Job Training (OJT) and future skills like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Green Skills. This new phase utilizes the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH) as a digital public infrastructure for skilling, assessment, and certification.