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WorldSkills 2026 Ahmedabad Trainees Head for Shanghai Now

From Ahmedabad Workshop to Shanghai: Two Pidilite-Trained Candidates to Represent India at WorldSkills 2026

Two young professionals trained at the Pidilite Woodworking and Plumbing Centre for Advanced Skills (PWP) in Ahmedabad are heading to Shanghai this week after qualifying through IndiaSkills 2025-26.

Prakash Suthar and Pankaj Jangra will represent India at the 48th WorldSkills Competition, being held in Shanghai, China. The competition is scheduled from September 22 to 27, 2026 and will bring together more than 1,400 competitors from more than 70 countries and regions across 64 skills. WorldSkills has described this edition as its largest competition so far by the number of skills and competitors.

The two candidates were trained at the PWP centre in Ahmedabad, which Pidilite Industries established with Kaushalya-The Skill University, Government of Gujarat. Their selection comes after the IndiaSkills national competition, the final stage of India’s domestic skill competition system before candidates move towards international contests.

Pidilite said its candidates won 22 medals at the IndiaSkills 2025-26 competition, including a gold medal in Joinery and a top-performer result in Carpentry. The company identified Suthar and Jangra among those moving on to the WorldSkills competition in Shanghai.

For Ahmedabad, the development also draws attention to a training centre that has been working at the meeting point of traditional trades and newer production methods.

The PWP centre was created under a partnership between Pidilite Industries and Kaushalya-The Skill University. The university’s records show that the partnership agreement was signed on March 5, 2022, to establish an advanced centre for Carpentry and Plumbing and offer certificate, diploma and degree programmes in the two areas.

The centre was formally inaugurated in July 2023. According to Pidilite’s annual report, 945 trainees benefited from its Woodworking and Plumbing programmes during the following year. The programmes include Certificate, Diploma, Graduation and Post-Graduation courses.

The university’s course records also show practical training in areas such as solid-wood processing, wooden-panel processing, CNC routing, engraving and carving, along with advanced plumbing. One advanced plumbing certificate course, for example, is designed for candidates who already have ITI training or relevant work experience.

The Ahmedabad centre is part of a wider skill-training effort by Pidilite. The company’s community programmes have included work with Industrial Training Institutes in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra. Pidilite has also supported WorldSkills-related training in trades such as Carpentry, Joinery and Plumbing and Heating.

This link with WorldSkills is not new. Pidilite’s 2021-22 annual report records its role as an industry partner for Gujarat in the WorldSkills 2022 competition. It also recorded two sponsored students winning State and Regional Skills competitions during that period.

The route followed by Suthar and Jangra is part of a national system designed to identify skilled workers well before they reach the international stage. The IndiaSkills Competition is organised by the National Skill Development Corporation under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Candidates move through district and state competitions before reaching the national level. The 2025-26 cycle received 3.65 lakh registrations across 63 skills from 36 States and Union Territories, according to the IndiaSkills platform.

India’s WorldSkills contingent has also grown in size and range. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said this year’s Indian team has 70 competitors taking part in 63 of the 64 competition skills. India is making its first appearance in 11 categories, including Dental Prosthetics, Digital Interactive Media Design, Intelligent Security Technology, Retail Sales, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Software Testing, Heavy Vehicle Technology and Aircraft Maintenance.

The country’s results at WorldSkills have improved over the past decade. India was ranked 29th at the 2015 competition and moved to 13th at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, where the country won four bronze medals and 12 Medallions for Excellence. India also finished eighth in Asia at WorldSkills Asia 2025, according to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

For Pidilite, the Shanghai appearance also follows several years of work in vocational training. The company’s recent annual reporting states that more than 1,100 trainees benefited from programmes at its Ahmedabad Advance Centre for Woodworking and Plumbing during the year covered by its latest report. The same report records Pidilite’s support for India’s 2024 WorldSkills effort, including training in Carpentry, Joinery and Plumbing-related trades.

Sudhanshu Vats, Managing Director of Pidilite Industries Limited, said, “India’s Viksit Bharat vision requires not only scale and infrastructure but also a skilled workforce equipped to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving economy. At Pidilite, we believe industry has an important role to play in strengthening the skills ecosystem and creating pathways for talent to excel. The achievements of our PWP-trained candidates at IndiaSkills 2026 and their progression to the global stage at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 reflect the potential of focused, industry-aligned training. We are proud to support these young professionals as they showcase India’s skilled craftsmanship to the world.

The WorldSkills event itself is expanding beyond traditional trades. Shanghai 2026 includes 64 skills, with seven new categories added to the competition. These include Dental Prosthetics, Digital Media Interactive Design, Intelligent Security Technology, Rail Vehicle Technology, Retail Sales, Software Testing and Unmanned Aerial Systems. The competitions will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai.

The Indian team’s participation therefore places the Ahmedabad-trained candidates in a competition that covers both established trades and newer technical occupations. For vocational training centres, the result offers a practical test of how classroom instruction, workshop practice and competition preparation translate into performance at an international event.

Suthar and Jangra now move from the national competition circuit to the Shanghai stage, carrying the experience gained at IndiaSkills and at the Pidilite Woodworking and Plumbing Centre for Advanced Skills in Ahmedabad. Their performance will add another chapter to India’s growing participation in international skills competitions.