NIIT exalts PM Modi’s Skill India Campaign

Commits to train 10 Million young Indians across 16 industry sectors in 5 years

Announces the pilot phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in North East, J&K and Jharkhand

Bangalore: NIIT Limited, a global leader in skills and talent development, welcomed the Skill India Campaign launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today. The Prime Minister also formally launched the “National Skill Development Mission”, unveiled the new “National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015”, and rolled out on all-India basis the Ministry’s flagship scheme, “Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana – PMKVY,” – the pilot phase of which has already begun.

Towards making Skill India a success, NIIT today committed to train 10 Million young Indians across 16 sectors over the next 5 years. The aim is to skill, re-skill and up-skill Indian youth with employable skill sets across multiple sectors.

Further, NIIT Yuva Jyoti Limited– a joint venture of NIIT and NSDC, has enrolled 1550 students under the pilot phase of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), across three sectors – Telecom, Retail & IT in North East, Jammu &Kashmir and Jharkhand. PMKVY Scheme is a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), implemented by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Today the successfully trained students were also handed over the ‘Skill Certificates’ by Mr. Shivan Bhargava, Group President, Skills & Careers Group, NIIT Ltd. at a ceremony organized at the NIIT corporate office in Gurgaon.

Speaking on the launch of Skill India Campaign, Mr. Rahul Patwardhan, CEO, NIIT Ltd., said, “This is indeed a commendable initiative and NIIT will work together with the government to make Skill India a success. To aptly leverage our young population to the best advantage, we need to provide them with necessary skill-sets and make them employable, and this policy aims to do just that. The challenge that we are faced with is not just quantity of fresh skilling and re-skilling - but even more the need for the skilling to be of global quality standards to ensure that the Indian industry is globally competitive.”

“Over the last 34 years NIIT has contributed tremendously to the IT sector by training 35 million people in IT. With NIIT’s strong heritage and focus on quality it is our responsibility to extend that experience and expertise to service the need of India in all the other sectors. All our NIIT centres are now multi-skilling centres offering job-specific training across verticals. Also, we will leverage the power of technology through Synchronous Learning Technology (SLT) and cloud campus platforms to scale rapidly without compromising on quality. Going forward our focus will be on skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling in sectors that are facing shortage of trained manpower.”

“We aim to provide industry and job specific training to around 10 Million young Indians across 16 sectors over the next five years, thus helping create a pool of job-ready work-force for the country,” added Mr. Patwardhan.

Earlier in 2011, NIIT entered into a significant public-private partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), to enhance skills and employability for youth across India. NIIT Yuva Jyoti Limited - joint venture of NIIT and NSDC (a Public Private Partnership under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, with 49% equity held by the Government of India), aims to provide skills training through over 1500 + centres across India.

NIIT Yuva Jyoti Limited (NYJ) will help youth chart ambitious careers by opting for programs that best suit their aptitude. NYJ centres imparts skills training across 9 service sectors – Retail, IT/ITeS, BFSI, Education & Training Services, Media & Entertainment, Healthcare, Telecom, Hospitality and the Informal sector. The courses will enhance employability skills of students by offering occupational, communication, and professional and life skills to make them industry ready. The students will also enjoy the benefits of certification and placement assistance.