- A new portfolio of short, credential-backed programmes for undergraduates, aligned with sectors shaping India’s next decade of growth
- Enrolments open for the first programmes in AI Engineering & Infrastructure and AI for Finance
Mumbai, October 14, 2026: Future Skills for Bharat, a new portfolio of industry-focused certificate programmes from Imarticus Learning, was launched today to equip undergraduate students across India with skills aligned to emerging opportunities in technology and finance. Offered in association with E&ICT Academy, IIT Kanpur, a part of the EICTA Consortium under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), the portfolio is being introduced with AI in Engineering & Infrastructure and AI for Finance now open for enrolment. EV Technology and FinTech & Digital Finance will follow as part of the portfolio.
Future Skills for Bharat is built around sectors driving India’s growth, including AI engineering, AI infrastructure and data centres, semiconductors and embedded engineering, robotics, drones, aerotech, spacetech, electronics manufacturing and fintech.
The first programmes focus on areas where industry demand is particularly strong today. AI Engineering & Infrastructure moves learners beyond prompting and tool usage to understand how real AI systems are built, deployed, monitored and scaled, covering LLMs, RAG, agents, APIs, containers, cloud, GPUs and responsible AI. AI for Finance prepares students for a profession where analysis, forecasting, credit risk, fraud detection and investment research are increasingly AI-assisted, with no coding background required.
The next programmes will extend this approach to electric mobility and digital finance. EV Technology will take engineering students through the complete electric-vehicle system, covering battery packs and Battery Management Systems, motors, power electronics, thermal management, charging infrastructure and vehicle software. FinTech & Digital Finance will explore the systems, economics and regulatory frameworks behind India Stack, UPI, digital lending, WealthTech and RegTech. More sectors will be added to the portfolio through the year.
Commenting on the launch, Mr. Nikhil Barshikar, Founder & CEO, Imarticus Learning, said, “Every employer we work with is hiring for AI and electric mobility roles that didn’t exist when today’s final-year students picked their branch. In just four years, the job description has changed underneath them. Future Skills for Bharat is built to close that gap. Not with another certificate, but by putting students inside the systems, constraints and trade-offs they’ll be expected to navigate. We’ve always believed our role is to be a partner across a student’s career, not just a provider of a course. Getting a student their first offer matters; ensuring they can adapt to the next shift in their industry without having to start over matters even more.”
Commenting on the partnership, Dr. ARKS Srinivas, Jt. Academic Coordinator, EICTA – IIT Kanpur, said, “The next decade will belong to engineers who understand how AI actually works, not only how to use it. These programmes open up the full stack from model to datacenter and give students the grounding to build the infrastructure behind India’s AI ambitions rather than simply operate on top of it. Academic rigour alone doesn’t get a student to that point, which is why we’re glad to be working with an outcomes-focused institution like Imarticus Learning on Future Skills for Bharat. They bring the industry context and delivery discipline that turns strong fundamentals into demonstrable capability.”
Every programme in the Future Skills for Bharat portfolio is designed around an India-first context, incorporating areas such as UPI and India Stack, EV charging and domestic mobility conditions, RBI and SEBI frameworks, and India’s growing AI ecosystem. Each learner completes three guided projects along with capstone-level work. Depending on their pathway, students could deploy an AI model as a working service, configure an AI finance assistant grounded in a company annual report, design a 40 kWh battery pack for an Indian electric bus, or build a UPI transaction dashboard. These projects are designed to give students tangible work they can demonstrate and discuss during internship and placement conversations, rather than relying on a credential alone.
Learners who meet the programme requirements will receive a programme completion certificate under the E&ICT Academy, IIT Kanpur. The programmes do not confer an IIT degree, diploma or alumni status.
Each programme is delivered through a 60-hour, two-month live learning format, combining structured modules, four IIT/NIT faculty masterclasses and three guided projects. The format gives students exposure to the technologies, business models and regulatory frameworks shaping these sectors while they are still pursuing their undergraduate education.
The portfolio is primarily designed for BTech students across branches and years, including Mechanical, Electrical, ECE, CS/IT and allied disciplines. Select programmes, including AI for Finance and FinTech & Digital Finance, are also relevant for BCom, BBA and other commerce undergraduates.
Enrolments are now open for AI Engineering & Infrastructure and AI for Finance. EV Technology and FinTech & Digital Finance will be introduced subsequently as part of the Future Skills for Bharat portfolio, with additional programmes planned across emerging technology-led sectors.
