The Indian Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the implementation of the Special Industry Initiative Scheme in Jammu & Kashmir.

The Special Industry Initiative Scheme will be a Central Scheme with 100% Central assistance in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)/any similarly placed institution identified for the purpose and the corporate sector. The Scheme proposes to cover all the districts of the State of J&K.

The Scheme is to be implemented in partnership with NSDC and the Corporate Sector. The identified companies will screen and select students from the State. After assessing the skill gap of the trainees and the need of the Corporate, the trainees will be trained suitably by the Corporate. The Corporate will be incentivised to absorb the trainee.

A total expenditure of INR 1000 crore is proposed to be incurred under the SII J&K Scheme. The estimated expenditure is approximately INR 250,000 per trainee. The Central Government will make a provision of INR 500 crore in the next five years from 2011-12 onwards. The cost of travel, boarding & lodging and stipend will be borne by the Central government.

The training cost will initially be borne by the Corporate. As an incentive to the Corporate 50% of the training cost would be reimbursed if the trained youth are given employment in the company.

8000 J&K youth are proposed to be trained annually. The total target in the scheme is to train 40,000 graduates, post graduates and professional degree holders over a period of five years.