Skill India Scheme gets dedicated data & strategy unit

The ministry of skills development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) has set up a data and strategy unit (DSU) for better monitoring of the Skill India Programme while also identifying skilling gaps and opportunities for the country's skilled workforce.

The dedicated unit comes a year after the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) suggested the skills ministry set up such a unit, in line with the national vision for improving data governance and strategy implementation across all ministries.

The eight-member data and strategy unit is headed by Archana Mayaram, economic adviser in the skills ministry, and has director-level officers of all key skilling and apprenticeship schemes under the ministry as its members, according to an office order, seen by ET.


The MSDE is responsible for key national programmes aimed at skilling the country's workforce. These include skills training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS).

The unit is expected to help the ministry analyse skills data to assess success of schemes and identify gaps to help build a robust and future-ready skilling ecosystem in the country.

It will aid the policy makers in data-driven decision-making and strategy formulation, monitor outcomes and drive reforms within the skill development sector.

While data monitoring and analysis has been part of all the skilling schemes, setting up of a dedicated unit within the ministry will help in better data management and usage, both within the ministry and with other stakeholder ministries like MoSPI, the ministry of labour and employment and the Development and Monitoring Evaluation Office under Niti Aayog.

DSU will coordinate with MoSPI for all statistical and data matters for bringing uniformity, consistency and to avoid duplication in the data system, MoSPI had said in its directive sent in August 2024. "It will put in place a mechanism for timely generation of quality administrative statistics, data sharing in usable databases and optimising their utility," it added.

The unit will be responsible for developing data-driven dashboards, implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks and coordinating data-related initiatives of other ministries.