Focus on manufacturing and within that domain focus on four or five sectors which have huge gaps in skills, Jayesh Ranjan tells FTCCI

Hyderabad, January 12, 2023: The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI), 106 years old, one of the most vibrant regional chambers has come out with a skill centre.  Known as FTCCI Pokarna Skill Centre, it was formally inaugurated on Wednesday by Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce & Electronics and Communications and Navin Mittal, Commissioner, College Education, Govt of Telangana and Gautam Chand Jain, CMD, Pokarna Ltd.
 
Anil Agarwal, President, FTCCI, immediate Past President K. Bhaskar Reddy, FTCCI CEO Khyati Naravane graced the occasion.
 
Skill development is crucial to new-age manufacturing and services sectors.  Manufacturing is one of the most important and crucial sectors in our state with immense potential for employment generation. Unfortunately, skilled manpower is always scarce in this sector.  With new-age, digital technologies disrupting the industry, skilling the manpower along with the changing times in the evolving technologies has become mandatory to cater to the requirements of skilled workforce in this sector said Mr Jayesh Ranjan.
 
He suggested to focus on niche and unique areas. Differentiate yourself with rest of skills centers. Don’t be me-too kind of a centre. Focus on Manufacturing. Within the domain focus on four or five sectors where there is a huge skill gap. Focus on experiential learning, he told. And he assured them to facilitate a dialogue with Digital Employment Exchange of Telangana(DEET) for collaboration for better job prospects.
 
Navin Mittal made startling revelations about the trends in engineering education. 44000 out of 62000  students who joined in Engineering this last year chose Computer Science and 14,500 electronics and remaining 3500( 1500 civil, 1092 mechanical and balance other streams) chose other streams. So industry may expect huge skills gaps in certain sectors in near future: Navin Mittal 
 
Mittal highlighted various initiatives to build skill gaps, which he said are paying dividends, but it will be a long term one, he said. He cited an example of Alpla’s Dual Education Center. The program has been innovatively tweaked, by ensuring that diploma students from various polytechnic colleges complete 2 years of theoretical education in their colleges and then join the Dual Education Center of ALPLA to gain practical knowledge.
 
Speaking on the occasion Anil Agarwal said the skill centre was in the process of getting accreditation from NSDC(National Skill Development Corporation)
 
It is our dream project. Today is big day in FTCCI. It will make huge difference to future workforce, he said and added that there 80% of engineering graduates are not employ abled. He deplored at the sad state of affairs and sought for industry, academia and government collaborations to address the issue.
 
Gautam Chand Jain, CMD Pokarna people with good qualification have zero skills. This must change. This subject is very close to my heart. I wish it makes a huge difference. Indians are very talented. Once they are trained well there is no looking back he said.
 
FTCCI signed MoUs with four different organisations to facilitate experiential learning. Sone of them include NIMSME, GIZ, JIT0 and GMR Cargo
 
It is probably the only Training and Skill Development Centre for the manufacturing sector in Telangana along with developing soft skills crucial for the service sector.  Housed in the second floor of the FTCCI Building in Red Hills, it is spread over in 2000 sft with two classrooms to train 40 each.  The Centre aims to develop skills in 20,000 people in a year at an affordable fee.
 
The courses and programs will be tailor made to suit the changing needs of the industry from time to time.
 
FTCCI also plans to enter MoUs with several organisations in future to facilitate practical and hands-on trainig for those who are groomed in the Skill Development Centre.
 
The FTCCI Pokarna Skill Centre is a new age skill development centre, not many regional chambers can boast of.
 
The list is not final and keeps on adding more as per the industry requirement. MSMEs are the backbone of the economy and a skill development centre on the lines FTCCI planned is the need of the hour to help industry embrace new age technologies and be globally competitive units.