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Govt Spends Rs 10,000 Crore Training 4.8 Lakh Indians in Digital Skills; Proudly Places 85,000 — Rest Learned to Use Email Address 'abc@gmail'

15 April 2026 - New Delhi, Delhi

Record date
15 Apr 2026
Location
New Delhi, Delhi
The odd part

CAG found that India's Rs 10,000-crore MeitY digital skills program trained 4.8 lakh people but placed only 85,000 in jobs — with some graduates apparently submitting enrolment forms listing bank accounts as '111111' and emails as 'abc@gmail'.

What happened

CAG Report No. 5 of 2026 has reviewed three Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) skill development schemes and produced a finding best described as arithmetically precise: Rs 10,000 crore was spent training 4,80,000 Indians in digital skills across the ESDM, SDYAD, and Future Skills PRIME programs, and exactly 85,000 of them were placed in jobs — a placement rate that would result in a private college losing its accreditation by Tuesday. Among the CAG's more specific discoveries: multiple trainees registered under duplicate enrolments, some with bank account numbers listed as '111111', others with email addresses like 'abc@gmail', suggesting that India's digital future may hinge on beneficiaries who understand the internet primarily as a place to submit government forms. The audit also identified Rs 107 crore in enforcement failures and noted that the digital entrepreneurship sub-program produced near-zero earnings for graduates. The Ministry has not yet indicated whether 'abc@gmail' will be issued a certificate of completion.

Source material