The government on Tuesday stressed on the need to enhance the quality, transparency, and uniformity in the implementation of the national skill development scheme — Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). To this end, it has undertaken several measures, the minister of state (independent charge) for skill development and entrepreneurship Jayant Chaudhary said in reply to a set of questions about the running of the scheme, and the “governance crisis” at the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
What did the minister say?
“A structured grievance redressal framework, performance audits, impact assessments, and third-party evaluations have been institutionalised to curb malpractices, including falsification of attendance records. CAG has to conduct the audit of NSDC, the implementing agency of the PMKVY scheme from 2017-18 onwards,” the minister said.
Since its inception, the flagship PMKVY scheme has trained over 16.4 million people. In response to the queries related to irregularities in the PMKVY scheme, Chaudhary said that a total of 178 training centres have been blacklisted till October 2025 under PMKVY 4.0 for non-adherence to scheme guidelines. Further, he said, 41 FIRs have already been registered in matters involving serious irregularities, including falsification of attendance records.
A police complaint was filed in August 2025 against senior NSDC officials for alleged misappropriation of public funds.
On removing NSDC CEO
On a question pertaining to the removal of NSDC CEO in May 2025 following complaints of irregular appointments made by the CEO without ministerial consultation, Chaudhary said that NSDC Board, in its meeting held in May 2025, took the decision to remove the then-officiating CEO of NSDC as per the NSDC’s governance framework and established procedures, which don’t fall under the administrative control of MSDE. “The apex authority for any administrative decisions of NSDC is the board of directors of NSDC. The central government appoints up to six directors, while private sector shareholders appoint up to nine directors,” the minister said.
NSDC is established as a not-for-profit public limited company under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (now corresponding to section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013). “It operates as a unique public private partnership (PPP) model under the ministry of skill development & entrepreneurship (MSDE), with 49% of the share capital held by the government and 51% by the private sector,” the minister said.
NSDC is the implementing agency for several skill development schemes run by MSDE, including Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), PM Vishwakarma Scheme, National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) among others.
