Skill shortages are particularly acute in construction, - where only 1 in 10 workers are qualified - and also in the retail, banking and automotive sectors.
India will need 150 million skilled employees by 2022, although the government has set a more ambitious goal of creating 500 million skilled workers by that date.
We have responded to this demand by creating 24 qualifications for the 4 key industry sectors. In total, we offer over 60 India-specific qualifications that provide learners with a way to earn a living.
We also help businesses find candidates with the right skill set, by letting employers recruit work-ready graduates from our centres.
One example is how we designed and delivered a specific qualification for an employer: we worked with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to upgrade the security skill of their staff to international standards.
Another example took place in 2014 when we signed an agreement to train 63,000 skilled workers in the hospitality, retail and construction industries. Our deal with India’s public-private partnership skills authority, the National Skills Development Corporation (NDSC), includes an option to train an additional 77,000 students across a range of other sectors.
We have also delivered in-house certification for a leading lifestyle retail chain that wanted to enhance the skills of its customer facing staff. We provided training in multiple city locations having mapped existing skills gaps within the company to our qualifications.
Elsewhere in the country we are transforming the lives of millions of young Indians who gain qualifications in our ambitious upskilling programme launched in cooperation with the Indian National Skills Development Corporation. We place our graduates into work experience schemes that later can lead to permanent employment.