New Delhi [India], September 3: In support of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s call from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15 August 2026 to train one crore youth in Artificial Intelligence skills within a year, the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in collaboration with Intel India, organised a National Leadership Dialogue on “Preparing the Future Workforce for the Agentic AI Era” today at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The Dialogue brought senior govt officials from various relevant ministries, industry and the wider skilling ecosystem onto a single platform to launch a common Agentic AI training programme and to begin drafting a larger national programme for training India’s youth in AI.
The Dialogue brought together senior representatives from Government, foreign embassies, academia, industry and the skilling ecosystem to deliberate on the rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence landscape and its implications for the future of work, education and workforce development in India. Senior officials from the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, the Department of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, together with the senior leadership of the IndiaAI Mission, participated in the deliberations, alongside leading corporates and sovereign AI model-building companies including Gnani.ai. Top national and international corporations are expected to join the initiative in the coming weeks.
The programme was attended by Shri Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as the Chief Guest, Dr. M. M. Tripathi, Director General, NIELIT, Shri Sudeep Shrivastava, COO, IndiaAI Mission and Joint Secretary, MeitY, Mr. Anshul Sonak, Head & Global Director, Intel along with senior dignitaries and representatives from Government, academia and industry.
The initiative draws on the vision articulated by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Railways, and Information and Broadcasting, that India’s AI journey must be built on the democratisation of AI—ensuring that every citizen has access to the technology and an equal opportunity to benefit from it—and that AI skilling for the country’s youth must be delivered at the same speed and scale that India achieved in its 5G rollout and semiconductor talent development.
The Dialogue focused on the emerging opportunities and challenges presented by Agentic AI and the need to strengthen India’s workforce readiness for an increasingly AI-driven economy. Discussions centred around emerging skill requirements, industry-aligned curricula, experiential learning, faculty readiness, AI-enabled learning environments and stronger Government–academia–industry collaboration.
As AI evolves from predictive and generative systems towards Agentic AI—systems capable of reasoning, planning and executing complex tasks under human oversight—the skills required across industries are also evolving. The Dialogue highlighted the importance of preparing students, educators and professionals with the technical capabilities, adaptability and human-centric skills required to work effectively alongside increasingly capable AI systems.
Speaking at the occasion, Shri Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), highlighted the importance of preparing India’s future workforce for the rapidly evolving Agentic AI era. He emphasized that skills, employability, and continuous learning will play a critical role as technology transforms the nature of work.
He congratulated NIELIT and Intel India for the initiative taken on democratizing Agentic AI. He further highlighted the need for long-term skilling pathways that combine foundational and emerging technology skills with real-world exposure, industry-relevant case studies and practical datasets. He also underscored the importance of sustained collaboration among Government, industry, academia and skilling institutions to ensure that India’s youth are prepared not only for current employment opportunities but also for the jobs of the future.
Dr. Madan Mohan Tripathi, Director General, NIELIT, said, “The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence is creating new opportunities as well as new requirements for our education and skilling ecosystem. As a national institution mandated to build capabilities in electronics, IT and emerging technologies, NIELIT is committed to ensuring that learners and educators are equipped to participate in this next phase of technological transformation. Our collaboration with Intel India combines NIELIT’s nationwide skilling reach with Intel’s technology expertise and industry perspective, enabling us to take Agentic AI learning closer to institutions and learners across the country.”
Highlighting the Government’s vision of democratizing Sovereign AI and building a strong and inclusive AI ecosystem in India, Shri Sudeep Shrivastava, COO, IndiaAI Mission and Joint Secretary, MeitY, emphasized the importance of building a strong AI talent pipeline for the country’s digital economy.
He highlighted the role of industry-led training, AI-focused educational programmes and digital learning initiatives in strengthening AI capabilities across educational institutions. He also emphasised the importance of developing AI talent, AI Data Labs and industry–academia partnerships to provide students, researchers and professionals with hands-on exposure to emerging AI technologies.
Ms. Shweta Khurana, Sr. Director, Asia Pacific & Japan, International Government Affairs, Intel, said,“As AI evolves from assistive tools to agentic systems and ultimately physical intelligence, it will fundamentally reshape education, work, jobs, and industries. In this new era, the defining factor of success will be human readiness as individuals will need the skills, adaptability, and judgment to collaborate effectively with increasingly capable AI systems. Investing in AI skills is therefore essential to strengthening economic resilience, expanding opportunity, and reinforcing technological sovereignty. Through our collaboration with NIELIT, we are taking an important step in translating this vision into action”.
A key outcome of the Dialogue was the launch of the NIELIT–Intel India Agentic AI Skilling Initiative, a common training programme aimed at expanding access to industry-aligned Agentic AI learning opportunities and contributing to the development of a future-ready AI talent ecosystem in the country, as a concrete first step towards the Prime Minister’s one-crore AI skilling target.
Under the initiative, two programmes have been introduced:
1. Agentic AI for Everyone
The programme introduces learners to workflow automation, AI agents and multi-agent systems, with a focus on improving productivity, enabling business transformation and supporting intelligent decision-making. The programme provides hands-on exposure to designing and governing AI-powered workflows and agentic systems using no-code platforms.
2. Engineering Agentic AI Systems
The programme focuses on designing, building and deploying AI-powered agentic systems. Learners will gain practical exposure to no-code/low-code platforms and code-based frameworks, covering areas including agent architecture, tool integration, orchestration, memory and deployment to develop scalable and production-ready solutions.
Beyond the two programmes launched today, the Dialogue initiated work on a larger, common national programme for training India’s youth in AI. Ministries, the IndiaAI Mission, industry and academia represented at the Dialogue will work together to draft this programme—covering curricula, faculty development, hands-on infrastructure, assessment and certification, and industry linkages—so that Agentic AI skilling can be delivered at national scale. Leading national and international corporates, along with sovereign AI model builders, are expected to join the programme in the coming weeks, adding their technology platforms, expertise and industry perspective to the effort.
The National Leadership Dialogue and the launch of the Agentic AI Skilling Initiative mark an important step towards strengthening Government–academia–industry collaboration and building an education and skilling ecosystem that is responsive to the rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence, in line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s call to make India’s youth leaders in the world of AI.
Through this collaboration, NIELIT and Intel India, together with the participating Ministries, the IndiaAI Mission and industry partners, aim to expand access to industry-aligned, practical and future-ready Agentic AI learning, particularly for learners and institutions across the country, and to contribute towards the national goal of training one crore youth in AI—building a skilled workforce capable of participating in and driving India’s next phase of AI-led growth.
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