Dearth of skilled workforce:NSDC

India's manufacturing sector requires about 40 million additional skilled workforce by 2020, said the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dilip Chenoy recently.

Chenoy told SME Times, "India will need about 90 million people in the manufacturing sector by 2022. The sector currently employs about 50 million people. Hence, there is an additional requirement of skilled workforce of about 40 million."

The government has recently approved the draft of National Manufacturing Policy that seeks to increase the share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 percent by 2025 from the current 16 percent around.

Chenoy also added, "The manufacturing sector has been a significant contributor to the Indian economy. While 15 percent of India’s GDP comes from manufacturing and 50 percent of the exports are from the sector."

Pointing out further the major issues that needs to addressed to achieve the ambitious growth in manufacturing, he said, "There needs to be a significant capacity addition and infrastructure to be able to skill 90 million people."

He added, "The workforce joining the labour market every year lack the necessary skills requisite for immediate employment by the industry. Hence, there needs to be an industry-led initiative that will ensure quality of manpower produced."

In that case, the Sector Skill Councils (SSC) can play a very significant role here, Chenoy said.

NSDC has already incorporated sector skills council called Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC), Security Knowledge and Skills Development Council (SKSDC), and Indian Energy Skill Development (IESD).

New councils in different sectors such as retail, media & entertainment, IT&ITES, Healthcare, electronics and hardware, etc, are also coming up soon.

Further, he mentioned that information on public domain pertaining to India’s labour market (example-: skill deficits, government schemes, etc), needs to be completed and updated on a regular basis.

Finally, the distinct skill requirements of both the organized and the unorganized sector are not being addressed effectively and adequately in the present scenario, he said.

Also, there needs to be some policy level changes relating to the creation of a robust co-ordination mechanism and development of a data base for vocational training including many others, Chenoy further added.