India is currently experiencing a demographic dividend, with the youngest working population predicted to remain until 2050. Scholars emphasize that this demographic advantage alone cannot guarantee the economic growth of the country unless accompanied by effective policy interventions. Skill development has thus emerged as a national priority to harness this opportunity, leading to large-scale initiatives such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). As India’s flagship skill certification scheme, PMKVY aims to provide industry-relevant training to youth. Despite its magnificent scale and substantial investment, the program faces a major challenge of high dropout rates among participants, which warns its long-term effectiveness and results in significant economic and social costs. Existing research highlights the need for analysing these dropout trends, especially at the state level, where disparities may reflect underlying regional and structural factors. This study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional comparative approach to assess the dropout rates of PMKVY across Indian states and examine the impact of selected state-specific factors: poverty rate, literacy rate, population density, and industrial development. The objective is to identify the extent of regional variation and analyse the relationship between these state-specific factors and program attrition. By doing so, the study aims to generate insights that can inform policy reforms and targeted interventions to improve retention and enhance the efficiency of government-supported skill development programs in India.