Women in Technology Programme skilling 6,406 women
Infosys BPM · 2024 · Dei
Infosys BPM and EdgeVerve funded INR 5.00 crore (via Infosys Foundation, implemented by Nirmaan Organisation) to deliver free WMA, ITES and coding training plus counselling and placement support to 6,406 women across 13 cities in 10 states; 86% were unemployed before training and the program included family counselling to overcome gender barriers.
Turning unemployed women into a technology workforce
Infosys BPM's Women in Technology Programme set out to answer a stubborn question in India's labour market: why do so many women with the aptitude for technology jobs never enter one? The programme's own baseline data made the problem concrete. Of the women it went on to train, 86% were unemployed before they enrolled, most from lower-income households facing a mix of financial barriers and entrenched gender expectations.
The intervention was a free skilling pipeline built specifically for women aged 18 and above. Over the course of financial years 2023 and 2024 it trained 6,406 women across 13 cities in 10 states of India, pairing technical courses with counselling and placement support so that a qualification actually converted into a job.
What was taught, and what it cost
The curriculum covered three tracks: Web Mobile Applications (WMA), IT Enabled Services (ITES), and self-learning in coding languages. ITES drew the highest participation of the three. Beyond the technical syllabus, the programme built in counselling and career guidance to help participants clear the non-technical hurdles that keep women out of paid work.
Infosys BPM Limited funded the initiative together with EdgeVerve Systems Limited, channelling it through the Infosys Foundation and its corporate social responsibility budget. Total spend on the project was INR 5.00 crore.
The numbers that matter
- 6,406 women trained across 13 cities in 10 states.
- 4,186 secured placements after completing the programme.
- 86% were unemployed before the training began.
- INR 5.00 crore total project spend, over FY2023 to FY2024.
An independent impact assessment carried out by Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP found that the programme directly addressed the financial barriers and gender inequities present before it began. Among surveyed participants, 73% said the training was crucial to acquiring a job, and the assessors noted that the initiative fostered personal growth alongside technical skill.
The implementation partner
Delivery on the ground was handled by Nirmaan Organisation, a non-profit that specialises in skilling and livelihood programmes for disadvantaged communities. Using an implementation partner with local reach let the programme run simultaneously across a dozen cities rather than a single training centre, spreading the opportunity into places where women often have the fewest routes into formal technology employment.
How it fits Infosys BPM's wider CSR
The Women in Technology Programme is one strand of a broader Infosys Foundation CSR portfolio that runs from education access and digital inclusion through to healthcare. The same 2024-25 impact assessment reviewed other Infosys BPM projects spanning employability skilling, library access for law students, and school infrastructure, all evaluated against defined key performance indicators by an external auditor rather than self-reported. That external-assessment discipline is a notable feature of how the company reports its social spending.
Placing a women-only skilling effort at the centre of that portfolio reflects a deliberate choice. India's female labour-force participation has long trailed men's by a wide margin, and closing that gap is treated in policy circles as one of the country's largest untapped sources of growth.
Why it matters
The programme maps cleanly onto three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). Its real significance, though, is in the conversion rate. Training 6,406 women is an output; moving 4,186 of them into placements is an outcome, and it is outcomes that change household incomes.
For a business-process outsourcing firm, the initiative also sits close to its own commercial logic. WMA, ITES and coding are exactly the skills the industry hires for. A CSR programme that widens the pool of job-ready women is, in that sense, both a social contribution and an investment in the talent base the sector depends on.