Chandigarh, October 9, 2025: Punjab is introducing a mandatory entrepreneurship course across universities, polytechnics, and ITIs to provide students with practical business skills alongside their academic studies.
According to the state government, the program is designed to transform students from job seekers into job creators.
The Entrepreneurship Mindset Course (EMC) will begin in the 2025-26 academic session in 20 universities, 320 ITIs, and 91 polytechnics, covering around 1.5 lakh students in its first year.
The government stated that the program will expand to nine lakh students by 2028-29, making Punjab the first state in India to mandate entrepreneurship education on such a scale.
The EMC combines theoretical learning with practical experience. Students are expected to launch a real business or service each semester and achieve set revenue targets.
According to government guidelines, first-semester students should generate ₹10,000, increasing incrementally to ₹4,00,000 by the fifth semester. For ITI students, targets are ₹40,000 in the first year and ₹80,000 in the second year.
The program is reportedly supported by Master Union, which provides an AI-powered, multilingual platform in Punjabi, Hindi, and English for planning, mentorship, peer interaction, and performance tracking. Students can select from tracks such as e-commerce, content creation, freelancing, professional services, and retail, the government noted.
During the initial rollout, over 40 orientation sessions have been held across universities.
The academic councils of all 20 state universities have approved the course, while private institutions including Lovely Professional University, Chitkara University, GNA University, and DAV University are reported to have implemented it as well.
A working group formed in May 2025 developed the EMC curriculum.
According to official sources, the team included Vice Chancellors from Punjabi University Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, IK Gujral Punjab Technical University Kapurthala, Sardar Beant Singh State University Gurdaspur, Guru Kashi University Bathinda, and Sant Baba Bhag Singh University Jalandhar, alongside experts from Start Up Mission, Innovation Punjab, and Master Union.
The government issued an advisory in June 2025 instructing all universities to start the 2-credit course in every semester.
Officials said the program will expand in phases and could serve as a model for other states.
Economic projections from the government estimate that by 2028-29, student-run ventures could generate ₹78,600 crore in revenue—roughly 9% of Punjab’s GDP and half of the state’s annual budget.
Officials suggested this could provide significant hands-on experience while contributing to the state economy.
According to the government, Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann have highlighted the course as a shift toward entrepreneurship-driven education.
Kejriwal was cited as saying the initiative aligns with the vision of NEP 2020, while Mann was reported to emphasize that students will gain practical business experience alongside their academic degrees.
The program represents the state government’s effort to integrate entrepreneurship into higher education at scale, though independent assessments on its long-term impact are still awaited.
