New Delhi: India needs to impart relevant skills to 10 million people every year to reap the benefit of globalization,Oscar Fernandes, union minister of state for Labour and Employment, said at an International Conclave on Skills Development, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

He said, “To achieve this objective, the government is opening new industrial training institutes (ITIs), vocational schools and skill development centres. Industry should come forward to be equal partner in the initiative,”

Highlighting the importance of skilled manpower in the socio-economic development of India, Fernandes called upon industry and NGOs to join hands with the government. He said, “Skill development should be high on governance agenda and state governments should work closely with industry in this direction.”

According to him around 12.8 million people join the labour force every year, but India has infrastructure to train only 2.5 million people. He said there should be effective public-private partnership to bridge this gap.

The consensus at the meeting was that India had the necessary skill sets to emerge as the skill capital of the world. A Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report points out that the world will have a skill shortage of 46 million people by 2020. But being a young country, India will have a surplus of this scarce resource. Apart from meeting its own requirements, India also should be able to export manpower.”

He added, “Our population is not a problem, but an asset. We should provide our workforce world-class training and skill to excel in the new world order. The objective of providing skill is to provide employment. At the same time, we need to train large number of people to train people.”