Five government industrial training institutes (ITIs) in Surat district will soon be run through a company in which steelmaker ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) holds the majority stake. The Directorate General of Training under the Union skill ministry, the Gujarat government and AM/NS India signed shareholders’ agreements on October 12 for the Surat cluster under the PM-SETU scheme, alongside a similar deal for four ITIs in Visakhapatnam, the government release reported via Revoi shows. UNI also reported the signing.
The two clusters carry an approved investment of about Rs 440 crore, of which Rs 240 crore is earmarked for Surat. Each cluster gets its own special purpose vehicle (SPV). AM/NS India owns 51 per cent, and the Centre and the state government hold 24.5 per cent each.
Which ITIs, and what changes
The Surat cluster uses a hub-and-spoke design. ITI Surat is the hub. The spokes are ITI Surat (Women), ITI Hazira, ITI Bardoli and ITI Sachin, according to July reports on the project’s approval in Outlook Business and Devdiscourse. Union skills minister Jayant Chaudhary announced that approval in Surat in July after Gujarat’s state steering committee had vetted the proposal.
Those reports set the targets: about 25,000 trainees over five years and 3,528 additional training seats. The plan covers new labs and workshops, smart classrooms, updated curricula and instructor training, with courses aimed at advanced manufacturing, steel, engineering, process industries, textiles and Industry 4.0 skills. AM/NS India will deliver the training side with its academic partner, the New Age Makers’ Institute of Technology (NAMTECH).
Why Surat, and why a steelmaker
The map of the spokes follows the district’s industry. Hazira hosts AM/NS India’s own steel plant along with a cluster of petrochemical, engineering and port companies. Sachin has a large GIDC estate dominated by textile processing units. Bardoli draws trainees from the rural and cooperative belt east of the city. A company that runs a large plant next door has an obvious interest in shaping the welders, fitters and electricians it later hires.
PM-SETU starts from the premise that government ITI equipment and trades lag behind what nearby employers need, and its answer is to give industry a controlling hand. The national scheme carries a Rs 60,000 crore outlay to upgrade 1,000 government ITIs, and the release says the first 14 approved investment plans total Rs 3,446 crore. The two AM/NS clusters account for close to an eighth of that.
What students and parents should ask
The agreements leave several practical questions open, and families weighing an ITI seat in Surat should watch for answers:
- Fees: government ITIs in Gujarat charge low fees. Neither the release nor the July reports say whether the SPV will change fee levels for existing or new courses.
- Timing: the reports give no date for when the 3,528 new seats will open. Check the state’s ITI admission notice for the next session.
- Jobs: industry-run training usually comes with placement links, but the published material makes no commitment on hiring by AM/NS India or other firms.
- Staff: existing instructors are state employees. How the SPV and the state divide management and teaching duties will shape how the ITIs run day to day.
With a majority-private board running public institutes, the state’s 24.5 per cent stake and its seat at the table become the main lever for keeping these ITIs affordable and open to the students they serve today.
Sources: Revoi (government release), UNI, Outlook Business, Devdiscourse
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.