Dell Technologies launched uDaan, a national skilling programme, at the Dell Technologies Forum 2026 in Mumbai on September 3, 2026, to train 23,000 young Indians in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and electronics manufacturing. The programme runs through a consortium of FITT-IIT Delhi, Learning Links Foundation, and Generation India Foundation, and spans 190 institutes across five cities. For engineering students, ITI trainees, and anyone looking to break into India’s fastest-growing tech and manufacturing sectors without paying bootcamp fees, uDaan is one of the largest corporate-backed skilling pushes to open this year.
Key Facts Box
- Dell Technologies launched uDaan: Empowering India’s Future Workforce on September 3, 2026, at the Dell Technologies Forum in Mumbai.
- The programme will train 23,000 youth across 100 ITIs and 90 Higher Education Institutes (HEIs).
- Coverage spans five city corridors: Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune.
- FITT-IIT Delhi has designed and certified four curricula: AI Application Development, Cloud Development, Assembly Line Operations, and Field Technician.
- More than 40 employers across technology, electronics manufacturing, Global Capability Centres, and hyperscalers co-validated the curricula.
- Dell employees will contribute over 2,000 hours of mentoring for career guidance, AI awareness, and interview preparation.
- Year 1 targets include nurturing 25 deep-tech startups from HEI learners and 10 micro-enterprises from ITI learners.
- Learners without a direct job offer get routed into apprenticeships through the government’s NATS and NAPS portals.
What Is uDaan and Why It Matters Now
uDaan is Dell’s answer to a problem Indian employers keep flagging: plenty of graduates, not enough of them job-ready in AI, cloud, or advanced manufacturing roles on day one. Rather than a one-off donation or a short workshop series, Dell has built uDaan as a multi-year pipeline that takes students from classroom training straight into mentorship, internships, and, for a subset of learners, entrepreneurship support.
The name itself is a signal of intent — “uDaan” means “flight” or “takeoff” in Hindi, and the programme is pitched as a launchpad rather than a certificate mill. What sets it apart from many corporate CSR skilling drives is the split focus: it trains ITI students for hands-on manufacturing and field-technician roles at the same time it trains HEI students for software-side AI and cloud careers, recognising that India’s electronics and semiconductor boom needs both kinds of talent simultaneously.
The Consortium Behind It
Dell isn’t running uDaan alone. FITT-IIT Delhi — the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer at IIT Delhi — owns curriculum design and certification, lending the programme academic credibility that a purely corporate-run course wouldn’t carry on its own. Learning Links Foundation manages delivery and institutional onboarding across the 90 HEIs, while Generation India Foundation runs execution and employment linkages across the 100 ITIs. Each partner brings a different piece: academic rigour, institutional reach, and placement networks.
Who Can Join: ITI and HEI Students
uDaan is built around two learner tracks, matched to two different kinds of institutions and two different kinds of career outcomes.
ITI Learners: Assembly Line and Field Technician Roles
Students at the 100 participating Industrial Training Institutes will train for Assembly Line Operations and Field Technician roles — positions in high demand as electronics manufacturing scales up under India’s PLI-linked investment push. These are hands-on, floor-ready roles rather than desk jobs, and they map directly onto the hiring needs of contract manufacturers, hardware assemblers, and after-sales service networks that Dell and its partner employers operate.
HEI Learners: AI Application Development and Cloud Development
Students at the 90 participating Higher Education Institutes will train in AI Application Development and Cloud Development — the two curricula most directly aligned with the roles driving India’s 32% projected AI-hiring growth this year. Engineering and computer science students form the natural audience here, though the programme’s employer base — which includes Global Capability Centres and hyperscalers — suggests openings for students from allied technical backgrounds too.
All four curricula were co-validated by more than 40 employers before launch, which means the skills being taught were checked against what companies are actually hiring for right now, not what looked relevant a year or two ago when the courses were first scoped.
Where uDaan Operates
The programme runs across five city corridors: Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune. These five cities anchor much of India’s electronics manufacturing and tech services industry, so the geographic choice isn’t accidental — it puts training close to where the eventual jobs and apprenticeship placements are concentrated. Students outside these corridors aren’t automatically excluded, since ITIs and HEIs there may still be onboarded as the programme scales, but the current 190-institute footprint sits entirely within these five regions.
What Learners Actually Get
Beyond the certified coursework, uDaan layers in three things most free skilling programmes skip: sustained mentoring, a measurable employment guarantee mechanism, and an entrepreneurship track.
Mentoring at Scale
Dell has committed over 2,000 hours of employee mentoring across all five corridors. Mentors work with learners on career guidance, general AI awareness, and interview preparation — the kind of soft-skill and industry-context coaching that a pure technical curriculum usually leaves out, and that often decides whether a technically qualified candidate actually clears an interview.
Tracking Outcomes, Not Just Enrolment
uDaan measures success by tracking employment and retention at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after a learner completes training and gets placed. That is a meaningfully longer measurement window than most skilling programmes use, and it signals the consortium wants to know whether placed learners actually stay in their roles, not just whether they got hired once.
A Built-In Fallback: Apprenticeships via NATS and NAPS
Not every learner will land a direct job offer the moment they finish training. For those who don’t, uDaan routes them into structured apprenticeship pathways through the government’s National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) and National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) portals. This gives every learner a documented next step — a paid apprenticeship with a stipend and a formal certificate — rather than leaving them to search for openings alone after training ends.
An Entrepreneurship Track for Ambitious Learners
For HEI learners who would rather build something than join a company, FITT-IIT Delhi’s innovation ecosystem offers physical bootcamps and technical mentorship aimed at deep-tech startups. The programme’s Year 1 target is 25 deep-tech startups from HEI learners and 10 micro-enterprises from ITI learners, with links to accelerator networks and early-stage capital. For a final-year engineering student who has a product idea but no startup experience, this pathway offers structured support that’s rare to find bundled inside a corporate skilling programme.
How This Fits India’s Bigger Hiring Picture
uDaan lands at a moment when India’s AI hiring is projected to grow 32% year-on-year in 2026, and the semiconductor and electronics manufacturing sector is expected to add roughly 10 lakh jobs by FY2026-27, with fabrication and ATMP (assembly, testing, marking and packaging) roles making up a large share of that growth. Programmes that train specifically for AI application development, cloud development, assembly line operations, and field technician work aren’t just skilling for skilling’s sake — they’re aimed squarely at the roles employers say they can’t fill fast enough.
For a student weighing whether to spend money on a private bootcamp or wait for a free, employer-validated alternative, uDaan’s structure — certified curriculum, direct employer input, mentoring, and a fallback apprenticeship route — makes a reasonably strong case for the free option, provided a seat is available at a participating ITI or HEI.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is Dell’s uDaan programme?
Ans. uDaan is a national skilling programme launched by Dell Technologies on September 3, 2026, in partnership with FITT-IIT Delhi, Learning Links Foundation, and Generation India Foundation, designed to train 23,000 Indian youth in AI, cloud computing, and electronics manufacturing skills.
Q. Who is eligible for uDaan?
Ans. Students enrolled at one of the 100 participating ITIs or 90 participating HEIs across Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune are the intended learners. ITI students train for Assembly Line Operations and Field Technician roles; HEI students train for AI Application Development and Cloud Development.
Q. Is the uDaan programme free?
Ans. Yes. uDaan is delivered as part of Dell Technologies’ national skilling and CSR effort, in partnership with FITT-IIT Delhi and two implementing foundations, with no course fee for eligible learners at participating institutes.
Q. What happens if a learner doesn’t get a job after training?
Ans. Learners who don’t secure a direct job offer are routed into structured apprenticeship pathways through the government’s NATS and NAPS portals, giving them a paid, certified next step rather than an open-ended job search.
Q. Can uDaan learners start their own business instead of taking a job?
Ans. Yes, for HEI learners. FITT-IIT Delhi’s innovation ecosystem offers bootcamps and technical mentorship aimed at building deep-tech startups, with a Year 1 target of 25 startups from HEI learners and 10 micro-enterprises from ITI learners.
Next Steps for Interested Students
Students at the 190 participating ITIs and HEIs in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune should check with their institution’s placement or training cell for uDaan enrolment details, since Dell and its consortium partners have not published a centralised public application portal alongside the launch announcement. Students outside these institutes can still track the programme’s progress, since consortium partners have signalled plans to scale participation over time. Check back here for updates as enrolment windows, batch schedules, and expansion details are confirmed.