NSDC ties up with Future Learning, NIIT for training 14 million people by 2022

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a public private partnership, has tied up with Future Learning and NIIT Ltd, to train 14 million individuals over the next 10 years in various vocational skills.

NSDC is a government and industry backed organisation that aims to promote skill development in India. Dilip Chenoy, managing director, NSDC, said the organisation is looking at tying up with big business groups to achieve its target of training 150 million people by 2022.

The tie-up with Future Learning aims to train seven million individuals, and a similar agreement with NIIT Ltd will cover training of another seven million students by 2022.

NSDC and Future Learning have earmarked Rs58 crore for the new venture, Future Sharp; the former will hold a 73 per cent stake in the joint venture, and NSDC the remaining 27 per cent. The new initiative, which aims to train people in sectors, including handloom, carpentry, plumbing, electricals and wiring, beautician courses, hospitality and retail services, will open 1,680 multi-skill training centres across India.

Future Group aims to hire nearly 650,000 people from these centres over the next decade for its various operations. "Currently, we give employment to around 150,000 people both directly and indirectly," said Goutam Roy, chief operating officer of Future Learning. "This number will be 800,000 in 10 years, and invariably we will source our requirement from our skill centres."
Besides chipping in with Rs5.4 crore for the initial Rs20 crore equity of the company, NSDC will also provide a loan of Rs38 crore to Future Learning.

The cost of the joint venture with NIIT Ltd, named NIIT Yuva Jyoti Ltd, is Rs377 crore, with NSDC taking a 10 per cent stake in it. About 1,500 state-of-the-art NIIT Yuva Jyoti centres are being planned across India under this initiative, providing industry and job-specific training to seven million people.

Vijay Thadani, chief executive, NIIT, said the initiative would enable the company to reach out to a much bigger audience.
NSDC's board has also cleared the setting up of two skills councils for the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and for healthcare. NSDC has cleared 34 projects and eight sector skill councils so far.