Flux in agency behind PMKVY: CEO exit, police complaint

The period that followed was marked by uncertainty and controversy. In October 2025, the Centre wrote to all State Governments informing them that 178 skilling centres accredited under PMKVY had been blacklisted. The Skill Development Ministry advised states to exercise caution while considering any proposals from these entities under any government skilling scheme.

Amid this transition, The Indian Express reported on September 22, 2025, that the Ministry had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police on August 1, 2025, over alleged “misappropriation at NSDC”.

The complaint alleged that certain senior officials had made “illegal appointments/ extensions without the authority and approval of the Board” and expressed apprehension that they might “run away with Government money/ property of NSDC”. The officials named in the complaint were also part of the high-powered committee tasked with steering NSDC after the CEO’s removal.

Separately, the CAG audited three phases of PMKVY from 2015 to 2022, covering an outlay of Rs 14,450 crore and a combined target of training and certifying 1.32 crore candidates.

The audit flagged multiple irregularities, including fake bank account numbers linked to beneficiaries, duplication of identification details across candidates, and non-payment to training partners for 34 lakh candidates.

In its 94-page report, the CAG also found that coordination between Central and State departments was “not effective” and described NSDC’s monitoring mechanisms as “unreliable”. It cited “poor monitoring and oversight” by the Ministry and highlighted deficiencies in the inspection of skill centres, including non-functional biometric attendance devices. A sample survey further revealed that 36 per cent of emails sent between NSDC and beneficiaries were undelivered.

Of the 178 training partners and centres blacklisted across 18 states, the highest numbers were in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Apart from the 41 FIRs filed by the police in states, it is learnt that, following the former CEO’s exit, an internal audit into financial irregularities within NSDC has also been initiated.

NSDC did not respond to requests for comment from The Indian Express.

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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