The grading was conducted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The institutes showed improvement on various parameters, including admission and passing results.
Government ITI world bank (Mahila), Meerut; Government ITI, Saharanpur; Government ITI Bilgram in Hardoi; & Government ITI Mohanlalganj in Lucknow emerged as the top four institutes, scoring 9.8 out of 10, the MSDE grading released on Thursday showed.
The latest grading comes in the backdrop of the Centre forming a national steering committee (NSC) last week, comprising representatives from various ministries and the industry, to come up with guidelines and a broad policy framework to transform skilling infrastructure in India, which include upgrading of 1,000 government-run ITIs in hub-and-spoke model at a total cost of ₹60,000 crore.
According to a notification by the skill ministry, a total of 14,580 ITIs, consisting of both private and government institutions, were graded across the country, compared to 14,999 last year. Grades couldn't be generated for 90 ITIs for want of sufficient data, as these were newly established in 2024.
Among the top 15 ITIs, Uttar Pradesh (11) has the highest number of institutions, followed by Haryana (2), West Bengal & Jharkhand (1each). A total of 571 ITIs received a grade of nine and above for the 2025-26 academic year, compared to 142 in the previous year.
Data showed that nearly 13,119 ITIs received a grading of 4 and above, thus enabling them to add new-age courses, such as 3D printing, internet of things, drone technician, solar technician, among others.
In comparison, only 12,700 ITIs out of 14,999 received a grading of 4 and above in the previous academic year.
Speaking to the media last week, Skill Minister Jayant Chaudhary had said that the ministry has de-affiliated 4.5 lakh seats in ITIs, which were vacant over the last six years and similar action is ongoing on over 99,000 more seats that have remained unutilised, thus reaffirming government’s commitment to quality of skills training and not “just numbers”.
MSDE had launched the new annual data-driven grading methodology (DDGM) in March 2023. This new method of grading involves using the eight parameters/information available on the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) portal and assigning a value between 0-10. Out of these eight parameters, admission (30 per cent) and passing results (30 per cent) has the highest weightage for the current academic year, followed by computer-based examination (10 per cent) and average marks obtained (10 per cent).
The earlier methodology involved both field visits and data validation on certain parameters. Started in 2017, phase 1 of grading consisted of 43 parameters clubbed into 10 broad categories, phase 2 of grading (launched in 2019) consisted of 27 parameters classified into five categories. The grade thus obtained ranged between 0- 5 and was valid till the academic year 2022-23.
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