Project Genesis employability skilling in Tier 2-4 cities
Infosys BPM · 2024 · Education
Infosys BPM self-implemented Project Genesis (INR 1.17 crore) across India, running an 8-day Faculty Development Programme and 15-day Skill Training Programme for 2,193 students and 607 faculty in Tier 2-4 towns; 45% of trained students secured jobs post-training at an average monthly salary of INR 17,950.
Closing the gap between a degree and a job
In much of small-town India, a graduate degree does not reliably lead to employment. Curricula lag behind what employers actually want, and students in smaller cities rarely get the interview coaching, aptitude practice and communication training that their metro peers take for granted. Infosys BPM built Project Genesis to close that gap.
The programme is a talent-sustainability initiative that Infosys BPM Limited (IBPM) implemented itself, rather than through a third party. Its target geography is deliberate: graduate colleges in India's Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities, the towns that sit furthest from the corporate recruitment pipeline. The stated mission is to align teaching methods and course content in those colleges with industry standards, so that academic study translates into employability.
Two programmes, one pipeline
Project Genesis works on both sides of the classroom. It trains the faculty and it trains the students.
- Faculty Development Programme (FDP): an intensive eight-day course, built around Infosys BPM's Global Business Foundation Skills curriculum. It opens with two days on facilitation skills for effective teaching, a three-day module on communication proficiency, and includes three days of domain-specific training tied to real-world industry applications, while also strengthening quantitative and analytical skills.
- Skill Training Programme (STP): a 15-day programme for graduating students, unemployed graduates in Tier 2 and 3 areas, people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities. It concentrates on communication, interview preparation and aptitude-test technique.
Training the teachers as well as the students is what gives the model its staying power. An educator who has been through the FDP keeps teaching new cohorts long after the programme's own funding cycle ends.
The numbers that matter
- 2,193 students and 607 faculty members trained, pan-India, over FY2023 to FY2024.
- INR 1.17 crore total project spend.
- 45% of surveyed students secured a job after completing the training.
- INR 17,950 average reported monthly salary for those placed.
The figures come from an independent impact assessment by Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP, which surveyed a sample of participants. Of respondents, 45% were placed in a job after completing the training at that average monthly salary of INR 17,950, and 84% of those placed rated the project as having contributed highly to securing their placement. At the time of assessment, 67% of respondents were employed and earning, reporting a somewhat higher average monthly salary of INR 19,950 in their current roles.
What the assessment found
On the faculty side, 85% of respondents said the FDP had improved their employability-related teaching, and the assessors noted it fostered collaboration and networking among educators. On the student side, the STP measurably improved employability through communication, interview preparation and aptitude coaching, with 78% receiving support for communications training and 64% for interview preparation. The programme, in the assessors' account, raised participants' awareness of career opportunities and industry expectations.
How it fits Infosys BPM's wider CSR
Project Genesis is one of several employability and education projects that Infosys BPM runs through the Infosys Foundation and submits to external impact assessment. The wider portfolio reviewed in the 2024-25 report spans school infrastructure, digital inclusion and a separate women-focused technology skilling programme. What unites them is a focus on disadvantaged groups and a reliance on independent auditors to verify results against defined performance indicators.
Genesis stands out for its focus on faculty. By upgrading the people who teach, rather than only the people who learn, it aims for change that outlasts the grant.
Why it matters
The programme aligns with SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth). Its underlying premise is that India's demographic dividend only pays out if graduates are actually employable, and that employability is thinnest precisely in the smaller cities Genesis targets.
For a BPO operator, there is also a clear strategic rationale. Tier 2, 3 and 4 towns are where much of the industry's future hiring and delivery capacity will sit. A programme that makes graduates in those towns job-ready serves the community and the sector's own talent needs at once.