Institutions gear up to train manpower for booming retail

In order to meet the growing demand of skilled manpower in the retail sector, educational institutions are eyeing northern region for training manpower.

Experts in the industry feel there would be demand of 3-5 lakh trained people in the retail sector in the northern region alone by 2010.

Earlier in April 2007, Chandigarh-based Asian Education Society(AES) in association with one of the leading management body, Lingaya's Human and Technological Development Center (LHTDC), Faridabad, set up the region's first exclusive training institute in the city for frontline staff and store managers for the retail industry.

The institute launched a three-month certification programme after which successful students will be placed in retail outfits for eight-months paid on-job training, where after the institute shall provide them with a one-month refresher course for skills upgradation.

Recently, the institute has been able to get hundred per cent placement for the first batch of the retail certification programme, informed Ashwani Luthra, patron of the AES.

Another player, Chandigarh-based Global Retail School (GRS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cosmo Aviation Training School and the promoter of the aviation education brand Flying Cats, launched its Chandigarh centre today. GRS is also being launched simultaneously at Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar in this region.

Global Retail School (GRS), is one of the largest network with 40 retail schools in India. It has been launched across the country in technical association with Annamalai University and Bharti Resources (a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises).

Priyanka Khosla, managing director, Global Retail School said, "With the entry of giants like Reliance, Spencers, Pantaloons, Birlas & Raheja's in organized retail sector, the paucity of skilled manpower has emerged as prime concern for this high growth sector and the current education system in the country is not sufficiently geared to address the new sales system and processes."

Global Retail School will offer various programmes in retail, including a one-year diploma programme in retail management. Successful students would be awarded diploma from Annamalai University and a joint certification from Global Retail School and Bharti Resources.

Also, it would provide professional certificate in technical association with Bharti Resources.

She added that considering the fact that retail sector is a manpower intensive sector, Global Retail School has been launched to meet the skilled manpower requirement of sector.

Apart from these two players, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in Chandigarh has also started a diploma course in retail management.