NEW DELHI: The skill development ministry has graded nearly 15,000 private and govt industrial training institutes (ITIs) with over 14 lakh students in line with an exercise similar to National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), which ranks higher education institutions.For the 2026-27 academic year, 466 ITIs attained a grade above 9, on a scale of 10, as against 403 last year. Govt ITI, World Bank (Mahila) in Meerut received the highest grade (9.8), followed by Govt ITI in Chaibasa (Jharkhand), Dalmia Pvt ITI in Sundargarh (Odisha) and Govt ITI (Jhansi), each receiving a grade of 9.7.Nearly 11,600 ITIs received a grade above 4, compared with 11,928 last year. A grade above 4 enables ITIs to add new-age courses, such as 3D printing, internet of things, drone technician, solar technician, among others. In all, 126 ITIs are categorised as non-graded (NG) for the want of sufficient data as these are newly established ITIs.Directorate General of Training, the apex nodal agency for regulating vocational training, developed a grading scale between 0 and 10, based on eight parameters. Of the eight, admission (30%) and passing results (30%) have the highest weighting for the current academic year, followed by a computer-based examination (10%) and average marks obtained (10%). Enrolment of women and diversity in trades which includes new emerging courses weighed 5% each.