Dell Launches uDaan to Skill 23,000 Youths for India’s AI Economy

US technology giant Dell Technologies has launched uDaan, a national skilling programme to prepare 23,000 young people for careers in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and electronics manufacturing.

The programme is being delivered through a consortium comprising FITT-IIT Delhi, Learning Links Foundation and Generation India Foundation. It will operate across 190 government and aided institutions in five major technology corridors — Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.

As part of the programme, 100 ITIs and 90 higher education institutions will offer industry-aligned training across four areas: AI Application Development, Cloud Development, Assembly Line Operations and Field Technician roles. 

FITT-IIT Delhi will design and certify the curricula, co-validated by more than 40 employers spanning technology companies, electronics manufacturers, global capability centres, and hyperscalers.

Learning Links Foundation will lead higher education delivery and institutional onboarding, while Generation India Foundation will oversee ITI execution and employment linkages.

“India's AI economy is creating roles faster than employers are able to fill them, and those roles require new skillsets,” Manish Gupta, President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies India, said in a statement. He added that uDaan is intended to create pathways from education to employment while supporting AI adoption and workforce readiness.

In its first year, uDaan aims to support 25 deep-tech startups among higher education learners and 10 micro-enterprises among ITI learners, with access to technical mentorship, bootcamps, accelerator networks, and potential capital.

Dell said more than 2,000 hours of employee mentoring will be provided across the five corridors, covering career guidance, AI awareness and interview preparation.

Dell said it will work with officials from the state Directorate of Vocational Education and Training and the Directorate of Technical Education from the first year, with the aim of creating a model that can eventually be adopted by state governments and other companies.

The programme builds on Dell’s earlier community initiatives in India. Over the past decade, the company said its education and innovation programmes have reached more than 50 million K-12 beneficiaries through digital literacy, vocational skills and experiential learning initiatives.