In a major development, MEITy announced grant of Rs 435 crores for a period of three years, for Future Skills Prime, which is a JV initiative by the Government of India and National Association for Software Services and Companies.

The program which is a future level of Future Skill platform intends to impart technical skills to about 4,12,000 professionals in new technology as Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligent, Internet of Things, Big-Data, Cyber-security, and others.

Last year, Nasscom and the government, together formed a joint venture initiative to announce the Future Skills portal for member companies in the IT-ITeS industry to reskill across nine emerging technologies. Of the 4.5 million people employed in the industry today, 1.5 - 2 million are expected to require reskilling in the next 4-5 years. So far, about 2,00,000 professionals reaped the benefits of the integrated training program.

The program which is a next-level  Future Skills platform is available to professionals from outside the IT industry as well, who wish to skill themselves in ten emerging technologies. Among the other beneficiaries of the platform are 10,000 government officials and 2,000 trainers.

The courses are a mix of material developed by industry and academia. Several course materials are free, while more advanced courses are available for between Rs 6,000-70,000, depending on the kind of technology.

(Source: Business Standard)