Govt plans centres of excellence in rubber training

Tyre and rubber industries in the country, with a turnover of over Rs 70,000 crore, have expressed the need for a rapid upskilling of entire rubber value chain for realising the sector’s full potential and for making the Make-in-India initiative a success.

In an exclusive interaction with the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, stakeholders of rubber industry, including representatives from the industry and the plantation sector emphasised on the need to consider the sector as a top priority, as over two million individuals are employed in more than 5,000 rubber and tyre units, and another one million in the plantation sector.

Rudy appreciated the rubber industry’s urgency to scale up the skilling quotient and contribute to the government’s ‘Skill India’ initiative. The minister assured the Centre’s support in introducing rubber-specific courses in vocational centres and industrial training institutes (ITIs) in the country.

He also suggested to open centres of excellence for providing training in rubber sector under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Raghupati Singhania, chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), said skilling of entire rubber value chain was of utmost necessity for increasing competitiveness of the industry.

According to him, tyre industry has taken a big leap forward in terms of manufacturing technology, especially in the new generation truck and bus radials, which require high-quality rubber as a critical raw-material.

Skilling in rubber tapping, processing and sheeting therefore needs to be enhanced so as to meet exacting parameters of quality.

Natural Rubber productivity can also be enhanced significantly through skilled manpower as it is learnt the per capita productivity of natural rubber in India is far below other producing nations.
 
“There is a wide gap between skill availability and demand in the rubber sector, particularly in the MSME segment. A large number of educated youth are attracted towards services sector. There is a need to find innovative solutions to bridge the skill gap in small scale sector by offering industry-ready study curriculum and training," said Mohinder Gupta, president All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA).