Maruti plans to recruit 900 people from ITIs

In order to address the issue of acute talent shortage in the automotive industry and simultaneously create a workforce that can keep up with the growth story, the country?s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has drawn up an ambitious plan to recruit 800-900 people over the next 18-20 months through the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). For this purpose the company is going to adopt 36 new ITIs in the current financial year.

At present the company is going through a massive investment drive with capex plans of Rs 1,925 crore to set up a third plant at Manesar near Gurgaon. With the capacity enhancement, Maruti Suzuki would be able to produce 17.5 lakh units by 2013. This would require a vast pool of trained hands to man the growth.

?We aim to add over 4,000 trained manpower to the manufacturing space in the country. Out of this about 1,600 would be absorbed within the automobile industry,? managing executive officer, Maruti Suzuki SY Siddiqui told FE.

Currently the company has 17 operational ITIs across the country, which form a part of the company?s initiative to strengthen the automotive value chain in the country. So far the company has absorbed over 500 candidates in the company?s service network. The new ITIs are expected to come up in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Kerala, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Siddiqui explained that with the high growth rates witnessed in the automobile sector over the last one year, it needed able and skilled workforce to keep the momentum intact, which in the current state was difficult to achieve. ?We want to create enough workforce who are job ready and whereby inculcate the skills needed for the growth. They would not be exclusively for Maruti,? he said.

Though the company would be investing about Rs 1 crore per ITI, Siddiqui said it was not the financial aspect which was important but the need to urgently address the skill shortage in the country. ?We would be needing skilled hands across board. We have to help our vendors as well to address the issue of skill shortage,? he added.

Identifying skill shortage as one of the biggest challenges in fast growing economies like India and Brazil, global HR firm Manpower Services had suggested free movement of workforce as a short-term remedy to the problem. It said that skill shortage could ?impede? the growth story hence it required easier mobility of workforce across borders.

Over the last one-year India has been home to several car launches from a swathe of global auto giants from Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen to Ford & General Motors. In the first half of the financial year the car sales have jumped over 25% in India with Maruti Suzuki consistently crossing 1 lakh plus sales each month.

Maruti plans to recruit 900 people from ITIs

In order to address the issue of acute talent shortage in the automotive industry and simultaneously create a workforce that can keep up with the growth story...