After the success of a few DPIs including Aadhaar and UPI, it is now time for a Talent DPI : Free coaching, a personal AI tutor and an IIT Kharagpur AI certificate for every young Indian - A consortium of non-profits, academia and industry answers the Prime Minister's Red Fort call. Yellowdots, India's Talent DPI, on pilot in Ghaziabad and Visakhapatnam goes LIVE for all.
New Delhi, 2 October 2026: On Gandhi Jayanti, a consortium including mySATHI Foundation, Career Launcher, FERMI and IIT Kharagpur and guided by EkStep Foundation (co-founded by Shankar maruwada, Rohini Nilekani and Nandan Nilekani) today announced the opening of three free services to India's youth. All three run on YellowDots, a new Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Talent, on pilot in Ghaziabad and Visakhapatnam is now LIVE for all.
The roll-out answers the call Prime Minister Narendra Modi made from the Red Fort on 15 August: free online coaching built on DPI, and AI skills for one crore young Indians within a year.
Three promises, delivered free
- Free coaching for exams. Structured exam preparation from Career Launcher, open to every aspirant at no cost.
- A free personal AI tutor. One-to-one tutoring that adapts to each learner's pace and level by IITKharagpur in collaboration with Fermi AI through the National Digital Library of India.
- A free AI proficiency certificate from IIT Kharagpur. A job-ready credential, accepted by recruiters.
"Coaching should never be the price of ambition," said R. Subrahmanyam, Chairman, mySATHI Foundation, and former Secretary, Higher Education, Government of India. "When preparation, a tutor and a credential are free and open to all, a student in Vizag or Ghaziabad starts from the same line as one in Delhi. That is what public infrastructure is for."
The beginning of India’s Talent DPI
YellowDots as Talent DPI has made a beginning today. It makes seekers and providers of education, skills and opportunities discoverable to each other on open rails, so access no longer depends on where a young person lives or whom they know. “Talent is still digitally dark in India when it comes to connecting opportunities with aspirations. We are delighted to partner with CL Educate and mySATHI Foundation in conceiving and shaping the Talent DPI Live and very happy to see it go LIVE as YellowDots as one of the BlueDots economy initiative”, said Gaurav Gupta, Chief Growth Office at EkStep Foundation.
"Identity and payments changed what an ordinary Indian can do. Talent is the missing third leg," said Satya Narayanan R, Founder and Chairman, CL Educate. "We have spent three decades in coaching. Putting that on open public rails, free, is the most useful thing we can do with it. These three services are they more can be built on the same infrastructure, by anyone."
The AI proficiency certificate is designed and awarded by IIT Kharagpur.
"AI proficiency is becoming a baseline for employability, much like literacy and numeracy," said Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, IIT Kharagpur. "A certificate matters only if it is rigorous and if employers trust it. We have designed this one to meet both tests, and to be within reach of a student in any district."
Open to all, free of cost
The services are free for every citizen. Schools, colleges, universities, CSR programmes and non-profits working on education, skills and employment are invited to use them for their own students and beneficiaries.
The consortium is working with district administrations and local elected representatives in each district, and will extend the roll-out district by district.
Access:
About The consortium and mentoring Foundation. mySATHI Foundation, Career Launcher, IIT Kharagpur, Head Held High Foundation, the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) and a group of start-ups, work as a consortium with district administrations and local MPs and MLAs while EkStep Foundation guides and shapes the project.
The national context. In his Independence Day address on 15 August 2026, the Prime Minister announced AI skilling for one crore youth in one year, and free online coaching that brings together Digital Public Infrastructure, talent and teachers. Source: PMO release. This roll-out is an independent consortium initiative in support of that vision.
About CL Educate. CL Educate Limited is an NSE- and BSE-listed education services group. Its businesses include Career Launcher, one of India's best-known test-preparation brands, and DEXIT Global, an AI-powered assessment and credentialing platform.
About mySATHI Foundation. mySATHI Foundation is a not-for-profit working on readiness for higher education, jobs and entrepreneurship, built around the 4Cs: critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration. It is chaired by R. Subrahmanyam, IAS (Retd.).