)
Companies including Educomp Solutions, CORE Education and Technologies, Aptech, Everonn Education and NIIT Ltd offer services in this segment, where they provide skill training related to various sectors and certification is also offered post completion of the course. The industry said that they expected a 15-20 per cent increase in revenue, from the increased opportunity.
Shantanu Prakash, CMD, Educomp Solutions said that the unqualified acceptance by the government of the criticality of job-led education and the emphasis on vocational training and skilling is the corner stone of this budget.
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has been asked to set the curriculum and standards for training in different skills. Any institution or body may offer training courses. At the end of the training, the candidate will be required to take a test conducted by authorised certification bodies. Upon passing the test, the candidate will be given a certificate as well as a monetary reward of an average of Rs 10,000 per candidate.
Ninad Karpe, MD & CEO of Aptech said that they would like to participate in this initiative, once the final details of the scheme are brought out. "It is a well designed programme, as they have said that though NSDC will set the curriculum, institutions like us can provide the requisite skills for it," he said. From the overall initial design structure of it, he termed it as a positive business opportunity.
Players also believe that this would lead to a standardisation in the skill-training market. It will make the industry more organised, said Anshul Sonak, President of CORE Education and Technologies. "In the short run, it is a good opportunity from a business perspective. However, in the long run, it has to deliver value and greater incentives to the youth and offer opportunity for lifelong learning and 'up-skilling'," he said. Sonak further said that similar initiatives to boost private-private partnership for skill education in areas of construction and hospitality would be needed.
Training companies, especially those dealing with vocational education are seeing an untapped market potential in this segment. Sharad Talwar, CEO of IndiaCan said that this (skill development) market would be a Rs 5000 crore market, where even though there is a business opportunity, there would be challenge of execution. IndiaCan, a joint venture between education company Educomp and global education services provider Pearson, offers vocational education and training.
Several firms operating in this segment already have a partnership with the NSDC to provide skill training to Indian youth. These firms believed that providing certification would ensure that such individuals have good career opportunities at their disposal. Vijay Thadani, CEO of NIIT Ltd said that due to the budget proposal, businesses including their individual learning business and NIIT-NSDC partnership initiative will see a growth. "There would be an increase in enrolments. We look forward to its implementation," he said.
While companies have termed it as a welcome move, industry experts said that there was still a lot to be accomplished. Manish Sabharwal, founder and CEO of staffing firm TeamLease Services opined that apart from the monetary aspects, non-money interventions including revisions in Apprenticeship Act and community colleges were required to help build quality in skill development and making individuals employable. "We do not too many cooks in the kitchen, but a different recipe," he said.
According to various estimates, about 63-65 per cent of the Indian population will be of working age by 2020.
