The government has disaffiliated 611 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), including 22 government-run institutes and 589 private ones, following a review that found they had recorded no student admissions and remained non-operational between 2022 and 2025.

According to officials, the action was taken after data on the government portal showed that these institutes had not admitted any trainees for four consecutive academic sessions. Institutes that failed to operationalise the third shift under the Dual System of Training (DST) despite being provided timelines and opportunities for compliance were also disaffiliated.

The Directorate General of Training (DGT), under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, provides for the disaffiliation of trades and units that record zero admissions for two consecutive years.

Officials said the move is aimed at improving the quality of skills training, optimising resource utilisation and facilitating the introduction of new-age courses as part of efforts to modernise the ITI ecosystem.

India has more than 14,600 ITIs, of which around 11,300 are privately managed and about 3,300 are government-run. The government said the disaffiliation would not affect training capacity, noting that around 20 lakh seats remain available across the country against an average annual enrolment of about 14 lakh trainees.

The DGT also sanctions nearly 50,000 additional seats each year based on affiliation proposals received from ITIs and state and Union Territory authorities.

Official data show that 16,802 units are affiliated under the third shift across ITIs. Of these, 1,184 units, or about 7 per cent, have been converted to DST mode, while 15,618 units continue to operate under the non-DST model.

Inputs from Economic Times

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