NSDC and SHRM India partner to address skill gaps, enhance employability in India's workforce

New Delhi [India], September 27 : In a first-of-its-kind initiative, India's leading Human Resources and Skill Development leaders met in Delhi on Friday to collaborate and address the jobs and talent crisis in the country.
The collaboration will bridge the skill gap and employability, thereby making India's workforce future ready and globally competitive. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, has collaborated with Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) India, to co-create pathways and build actionable frameworks for future-ready skilling and employability in a fast-changing world.
As Per National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), "This initiative brought together industry leaders and senior HR professionals to discuss strategies for reskilling and upskilling corporate and industrial workforce, in response to a fast-changing employment landscape triggered in part by technological advancements and the changing nature of work itself post-pandemic."
During the event, Ved Mani Tiwari, CEO of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Managing Director, NSDC International (NSDCI), said, "NSDC and SHRM are both purpose-driven organizations, and this collaboration is aimed at skilling India better in line with the Honourable Prime Minister's vision. In developing and nurturing future talent, HR has visibility over the entire talent pipeline. We want our employees to be proficient, and it is important therefore to be able to help reskill and upskill them in response to skill gaps."
"It's imperative that we not only unlock value for each employee but this unlocking should also happen at the company and the industry level and taken in the aggregate, this would serve the larger skilling requirements for country as a whole," he added.
He further added, "To transform India into a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025, we must accelerate the pace of skilling. With every fourth worker in the global workforce being Indian, equipping our youth with the right skills is essential. It's not just about growth; it's about ensuring every Indian benefits from this demographic advantage."
In her keynote address, CEO of SHRM India, APAC, and MENA, Achal Khanna, emphasized the significance of skilling initiatives for India's workforce.
"It gives me immense pride to collaborate with NSDC as we work together to build the foundation for a more skilled and prosperous nation. The HR Leadership Council Connect is a transformative platform that bridges the gap between the corporate world and the skilled ecosystem," She remarked.
"Through India's first CHRO Council for HR Leaders exclusive 'Future-Ready Workforce Initiative,' we aim to create an efficient skilling ecosystem that is adaptable and addresses the current and future needs of the workforce. We are proud to be a part of the Kaushal Bharat and Viksit Bharat agenda," she added.
The deliberations have also included presentations from senior leadership on NSDC's business verticals and interactive focus group discussions with 3 cohorts aimed at identifying sector-specific skill gaps and opportunities for collaboration.
"Participants from diverse sectors such as IT, Telecom, Energy, and Automobile shared best practices aimed at developing actionable insights for creating a future-ready workforce," NSDC said in a statement.
According to a study conducted by NSDC, there is a huge gap between the demand for skilling in India pegged at 103 million workers and the current supply at just 74 million, signifying a huge skill gap. This shortfall has emerged because of the changing profile of the Indian economy, with several sectors, including healthcare, semiconductor manufacturing, green jobs and sustainability, waste management and circular economy, food processing, drone technology and AI, emerging as hot spots where skilled talent is critical but is in short supply.
The discussion today, the first in a series of such deliberations, helped bring out insights which would enable the building of frameworks to bridge skill gaps and enhance the competitiveness of our workforce by leveraging the expertise of the HR community.
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is the principal architect of the skill ecosystem in the country. It is a unique public-private partnership (PPP) enterprise working under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India.
NSDC was established to catalyse the skilling ecosystem for private sector participation and be the strategic implementation and knowledge partner to Skill India Mission to build efficient vocational training initiatives, empowering India's youth. NSDC provides support to enterprises, start-ups, companies, and organizations that are creating an impact by offering a world of opportunities in futuristic skills to the potential workforce.
The organization develops appropriate models to enhance, support, and coordinate private sector initiatives in skilling by offering funding support to eligible entities, concessional loans to the candidates, along with other innovative financial products and building strategic partnerships.