Established below the NITI Aayog, AIM was designed to seed innovation on the college stage by way of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs). On the summit, policymakers repeatedly mentioned that AI readiness would rely on early publicity to STEM, computational pondering and problem-solving. The structure created below AIM was referenced in that broader push to construct capability from the classroom upward.
The Union Cupboard has since accepted the continuation of AIM with an enhanced outlay of about ₹2,750 crore, marking the beginning of AIM 2.0 and increasing the mission till 2028. The renewed funding is meant to strengthen India’s innovation structure at a time when AI and deep applied sciences are central to financial technique. Over the previous decade, 10,000 ATLs have been established throughout the nation, together with 5,945 in authorities colleges and 4,055 in personal establishments, with a majority situated in rural areas and a share in aspirational districts, based on data positioned earlier than Parliament.
An impartial evaluation by Athena Infonomics, commissioned by AIM and cited in a Lok Sabha reply, discovered that the majority sampled colleges met infrastructure necessities and utilised their institution grants. Over 90 per cent reported utilizing the preliminary funds, 85 per cent submitted utilisation certificates, and 74 per cent usually up to date the programme dashboard. Faculties surveyed reported enhancements in educational efficiency, a higher scientific mood and stronger outcomes in STEM topics. Academics additionally reported increased ranges of scholar engagement after the labs have been launched.
The information suggests the depth of engagement has not at all times saved tempo with the breadth of enlargement. It reveals that the common variety of improvements developed per lab has remained inside a slender vary, between 9 and 12 yearly. The height was recorded in 2018-19 at 12 improvements per lab. Within the years that adopted, the common settled round 9 to 11, even because the variety of labs multiplied.
Scholar enrolment has risen sharply in absolute phrases. In sampled colleges, whole enrolment grew from 1,578 in 2016-17 to 371,957 by 2022-23. ATL enrolment elevated from 1,010 college students to 160,155 throughout the identical interval. But the proportion of scholars collaborating in ATLs declined from 64 per cent within the first yr to round 43 per cent by 2022-23.
As extra colleges got here below the programme, the share of enrolled college students actively concerned in tinkering actions narrowed.
Funding traits replicate an analogous shift. Between 2017-18 and 2022-23, precise expenditure often matched or exceeded price range allocations, with utilisation crossing 100 per cent in a number of years. Prior to now two monetary years, nonetheless, spending slowed. Utilisation fell to 78 per cent in 2023-24.
In 2024-25, towards a price range estimate of ₹155 crore, precise expenditure stood at ₹27.08 crore, or 17.47 per cent. For 2025-26, ₹110 crore has been spent up to now towards an allocation of ₹400 crore, translating to 27.5 per cent utilisation. This shift comes simply because the Union Cupboard has accepted AIM 2.0 with a complete outlay of ₹2,750 crore till 2028.
The evaluation additionally sheds mild on monetary pressures on the college stage. Whereas 67 per cent of faculties reported needing extra funds to run their ATLs successfully, solely 26 per cent within the pattern truly spent cash from sources past the mission’s help. Of those who did, 89 per cent relied on school-level sources. Personal colleges have been extra prone to report extra spending than authorities colleges. Extra funds have been primarily used for instruments, organising area and paying for further trainers.
In Parliament, when requested whether or not the federal government had assessed the supply of skilled instructors and mentors in ATLs, the reply acknowledged that no such evaluation had been carried out.
