NIELIT, Intel Launch Agentic AI Skilling Programmes to Prepare India’s Workforce for AI Era

The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Intel India have launched two agentic AI skilling programmes to prepare students, professionals and educators for an increasingly AI-driven workforce.

The programmes were announced at a National Leadership Dialogue on ‘Preparing the Future Workforce for the Agentic AI Era’, organised by NIELIT and Intel India at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on September 3.

The initiative will focus on expanding access to industry-aligned and practical agentic AI learning opportunities across the country, with the government, academia, industry and skilling institutions expected to play a larger role in building India’s AI talent pipeline.

The two programmes launched under the NIELIT–Intel India Agentic AI Skilling Initiative are ‘Agentic AI for Everyone’ and ‘Engineering Agentic AI Systems’.

“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,” Dr Madan Mohan Tripathi, Director General, NIELIT, said.

The Agentic AI for Everyone programme is designed to introduce learners to workflow automation, AI agents and multi-agent systems. It focuses on using agentic technologies to improve productivity, support business transformation and enable intelligent decision-making.

The programme will provide hands-on exposure to designing and governing AI-powered workflows and agentic systems using no-code platforms, making it accessible to learners without extensive programming backgrounds.

The second programme, Engineering Agentic AI Systems, is for learners looking to build and deploy AI-powered agentic systems. It covers agent architecture, tool integration, orchestration, memory and deployment, using both no-code/low-code platforms and code-based frameworks.

The programme aims to provide practical exposure to developing scalable and production-ready agentic AI solutions.

The launch comes as India seeks to expand its AI capabilities beyond access to computing infrastructure and models, with workforce development emerging as a key component of the country’s AI strategy.

Shri Sudeep Shrivastava, COO, IndiaAI Mission and Joint Secretary, MeitY, highlighted the government’s vision of democratising Sovereign AI and building an inclusive AI ecosystem.

He stressed the importance of industry-led training, AI-focused educational programmes and digital learning initiatives, while also pointing to the need for AI Data Labs and stronger industry–academia partnerships to give students, researchers and professionals hands-on exposure to emerging technologies.

The leadership dialogue brought together representatives from government, foreign embassies, academia, industry and the skilling ecosystem to discuss how agentic AI could reshape education, employment and workforce development.

As AI systems move from predictive and generative models towards agentic systems capable of reasoning, planning and executing complex tasks under human oversight, the skills required across industries are also changing.

The dialogue emphasised that future workers will require not only technical capabilities but also adaptability, judgement and the ability to collaborate effectively with AI systems.

“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 strengthen economic resilience, expand opportunity, and reinforce technological sovereignty. Through our collaboration with NIELIT, we are taking an important step in translating this vision into action,” said Shweta Khurana, Senior Director, Asia Pacific and Japan, International Government Affairs, Intel.

The initiative also emphasises faculty readiness, experiential learning, industry-aligned curricula and AI-enabled learning environments.

Speaking at the event, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification, stressed the importance of long-term skilling pathways that combine foundational and emerging technology skills with real-world exposure, industry case studies and practical datasets. He also called for sustained collaboration between government, industry, academia and skilling institutions to ensure that India’s workforce is prepared not only for current employment opportunities but also for jobs that emerge as AI reshapes the economy.

The NIELIT–Intel initiative is expected to expand access to agentic AI learning across educational institutions and learner communities, as India seeks to build a workforce capable of working alongside increasingly autonomous AI systems and contributing to the country’s next phase of AI-led growth.