Bharti's education arm to invest Rs 100 crore

Centum Learning, the training and education arm of the Bharti group, plans to invest Rs 100 crore in the next three years to diversify into training school children and expanding its presence by opening campuses across the country.

The company plans to set up franchisee service training and skill centres to impart employability skills to students of class VIII and IX.

It will launch these centres in seven states by July. Training will be imparted in retail, distribution, telecom and automobiles sectors.

“Through these franchisee service training centres, we will enhance the vocational employability skills of below-poverty-line students. These centres will teach relevant skills to students like mobile repairing, installing of direct to home apparatus and repairing automobiles and scooters, among others. We will offer training in areas where the Bharti group is present,” said Sanjeev Duggal, CEO, Centum Learning.

After the training, the students will get a certificate from respective industry associations.

Moreover, it plans to set up 20 higher education ‘urban’ campuses called ‘Centum U’ in the country in the next three years. These campuses, spread across the metros and Tier-I cities, will offer courses in management, finance, economics, media and entertainment.

The campuses will offer industry-oriented graduate and postgraduate programmes in business and creative studies.

The first five campuses, to be set up in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Mohali and Mumbai, will start offering courses by the end of April.

Centum has tied up with London School of Economics and Whistling Woods International for content and certification and the fee will range between Rs 1.5 and 3.5 lakh, according to Duggal.

The expansion drive also entails doubling the number of its 130 training centres offering courses in business and management to around 260 by the end of this year.