IndiaAI FutureSkills is the skilling arm of the government’s IndiaAI Mission. It has three parts that serve very different people: a free introductory course anyone can take, Data and AI Labs in ITIs and polytechnics outside the big metros, and fellowships for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students. Knowing which part fits you saves a lot of searching.

Where FutureSkills sits in the IndiaAI Mission

The Union Cabinet approved the IndiaAI Mission on 7 March 2024 with an outlay of over ₹10,300 crore. The Cabinet release said FutureSkills would widen access to graduate and postgraduate AI programmes and set up Data and AI Labs “not just” in major cities “but also smaller towns and cities” to teach foundational courses.

A Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) statement published by PIB on 29 July 2026 describes the pillar the same way: labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, student fellowships and industry-aligned curricula. FutureSkills is one of seven pillars; our IndiaAI Mission explainer covers the others, including subsidised GPU access and the AIKosh datasets platform.

1. YUVA AI for ALL: the free course

MeitY launched YUVA AI for ALL on 18 November 2025. It is a free, self-paced course of about four and a half hours, built in six modules that cover what AI is, how it is changing education and work, safe and responsible use of AI tools, and Indian use cases. No technical background is required, and every learner who completes it receives a Government of India certificate.

The course is hosted on FutureSkills Prime, iGOT Karmayogi and other learning platforms. A PIB release of 13 January 2026 added DIKSHA to that list and said the course would be offered in 11 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. The government’s stated goal is to reach one crore (10 million) people.

A naming point that confuses many learners: FutureSkills Prime is a separate MeitY and NASSCOM programme for upskilling professionals in AI, cloud, big data and other emerging technologies, as a PIB note of 19 February 2026 explains. It hosts the YUVA course, but it is not the IndiaAI FutureSkills pillar itself.

2. Data and AI Labs in smaller cities

The labs are meant for hands-on training in AI, data annotation, data curation and applied data science. By the February 2026 PIB note, 27 labs had been set up through NIELIT in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and 174 more had been approved in ITIs and polytechnics across 27 States and Union Territories. The July 2026 statement puts the number approved across ITIs and polytechnics at 543.

These figures describe approvals at a point in time, not labs that are all open today. If you are a student at an ITI or polytechnic, ask your institute whether it is on the approved list and when courses start.

3. IndiaAI fellowships

The fellowship scheme supports students in AI education and research. The February 2026 note gives the planned scale as 500 PhD scholars, 5,000 postgraduates and 8,000 undergraduates. The July 2026 statement reports that 686 fellowships have been awarded so far, across 178 institutions.

Those numbers show that fellows are reached through participating institutions rather than through a single national entrance test. A student who is interested should first check whether their college or university has been onboarded.

What the IndiaAI portal shows today

The IndiaAI FutureSkills page publishes running totals. It does not print an “as on” date, so the figures below are what the page displayed when we read it on 23 October 2026.

Programme Measure Figure
YUVA AI for ALL Enrolments 9,056,856
YUVA AI for ALL Completions 3,144,510
IndiaAI Fellowship UG fellows (institutes) 309 (56)
IndiaAI Fellowship PG fellows (institutes) 145 (54)
IndiaAI Fellowship PhD fellows (institutes) 232 (101)
IndiaAI Fellowship Total fellows (institutes) 686 (178)
Data and AI Labs Data annotation: registered / trained / certified 2,611 / 1,552 / 549
Data and AI Labs Data curation: registered / trained / certified 2,933 / 1,609 / 700

Source: IndiaAI FutureSkills portal, read 23 October 2026. The institute counts are as the portal lists them for each level; an institute can host fellows at more than one level.

Two things stand out. Roughly one in three YUVA enrolments has turned into a completion (3,144,510 of 9,056,856, about 35%). And the lab courses are at an early stage: 1,249 people had been certified in the two lab courses listed, against 5,544 registrations.

Which part fits you

  • You are new to AI, at any age or job: start with YUVA AI for ALL. It is free, short and gives a government certificate, but it is an awareness course, not a job qualification.
  • You study at an ITI or polytechnic in a Tier 2 or Tier 3 city: ask whether your institute hosts an IndiaAI Data and AI Lab. The annotation and curation courses are practical entry points into data work.
  • You are a UG, PG or PhD student in an AI-related field: check with your department whether your institution is onboarded for IndiaAI fellowships.
  • You are a working professional looking for deeper courses: FutureSkills Prime is the MeitY and NASSCOM platform built for that purpose.

For employers, the certificates are a signal of exposure, not proof of competence. If staff use AI tools at work, the legal questions are covered in our guide to the DPDP Act and AI at work.

Official sources

Questions people ask

Is IndiaAI FutureSkills the same as FutureSkills Prime?

No. IndiaAI FutureSkills is a pillar of the IndiaAI Mission covering the free YUVA course, Data and AI Labs and fellowships. FutureSkills Prime is a MeitY and NASSCOM skilling platform for professionals; it is one of the places where the YUVA course is hosted.

Is the YUVA AI for ALL course free?

Yes. MeitY describes it as free and open to everyone, and learners who complete it receive a Government of India certificate.

How many IndiaAI fellowships have been awarded?

The July 2026 MeitY statement and the IndiaAI portal both give 686 fellowships across 178 institutions. The planned scale is 500 PhD, 5,000 postgraduate and 8,000 undergraduate fellows.