With the young population the world over dwindling and alarm bells already ringing on the future of the workforce, India has a potential to use its growing youth power to its advantage. But, before the country is ready to ?export? the workforce to different parts of the world, there seems a catch.
With only 5% of the manpower skilled, the future seems too bleak. And it is this inconsistency that Making India Employable (MIE) wants to set right. In collaboration with London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), MIE has set itself a target of breaking the myth that only those with MBA degrees, engineers or doctors have a bright future. For this, MIE has spoken top as many as 29 companies, across verticals and devised industry-specific customised curriculum that would impart students the right skills for different trades. Companies like Pepsi, Nokia and Siemens network, RPG group, Reliance Retail the Ananda Bazaar Patrika, Bharti, Pantaloons, Foyers, etc. are all too keen to lap up the skilled manpower that the institute will churn out for all their upcoming expansion projects all over the country.
Already, the first such centre has come up in Gurgaon, while the Faridabad centre is set to open in the next week. Next in line are centres in Chandigarh, Revari and Lucknow, all of which are slated to comje up by the end of May.
With a target of setting up as many as 37 centres in the first year and 140 centres in three years, MIE has pumped in an initial amount of $2 million . ?Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, with their huge youth population, are our prime focus states, followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, NCR, etc.? said Prikshit Dhanda, CEO and MD of Making India Employable, while speaking to FE.
Stating that a total investment of about $50 million was needed to open all the 140 centres across the country, Dhanda said, ?We need to catch up real fast with the global standards of skilled workforce, which is about 60-70%?.