Everonn Education signs JV with National Skill Dev Corp

Shares of learning solutions provider Everonn Education Ltd jumped over 10% after it signed a joint venture agreement with National Skill Development Corp to provide vocational training to students across the country.

The National Skill Development Corp, which was set up by the federal government in 2008, works on a public-private partnership model and aims to promote skill development in the country by building vocational training institutes.

"The mandate is to train 15 million students at a fee cost of Rs 14,000-18,000 per student," a company source, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.

The source did not disclose the period over which the joint venture would undertake this.

The firm has called a media briefing on Monday to make a formal announcement.

In India only about 5% of students have access to any vocational training as compared to about 60% in developed countries.

Indian education companies are making a big foray into the skill development or vocational training space in a bid to cater to the rising demand for such institutes across the country as the country's economic boom increases the need for skilled manpower.

In March, the company had told Reuters it was looking to expand its skill development business. It currently gets 60% of its revenues from providing educational content to schools and colleges.

"We have identified nine areas of skill development... We plan to build 100-120 skill development centres in FY12 at an investment of between 1.5-2.5 million rupees each," P Kishore, managing director told Reuters in March.

The company plans to open 1,000 skill development centres in three years, he added.

India's $86 billion education sector is likely to see private players expanding on the back of increased government spending on education projects.

The government plans to raise expenditure on education by about a quarter to Rs 52,060 crore ($11.50 billion) in FY12, the Finance Minister said in this year's Budget speech.

At 2.34 pm, shares of the company were up 9.12% at Rs 667 each in a weak Mumbai market.