Govt to leverage Rs 1,000 cr for skill development

Amid increased number of corporates resorting to job cuts, the newly-formed Skill Development Corporation will leverage its Rs 1,000-crore corpus to develop new skills among workers, including those in the private sector.

"Almost Rs 1000 crore is available. So, they (Skill Development Corporation) would be making schemes... They will try to leverage with the private sector (as well)," Secretary to the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Dinesh Rai told reporters after launching a portal for MSMEs.
    
The portal has been launched jointly by the industry body CII and National Small Industries Corporation here.
    
Skill development is a pet project of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It functions under three tiers - Prime Minister, Planning Commission and the Skill Development Corporation. Under the mission, a target to train 500 million workers by 2020 has been set, Rai said.
    
Referring to the recent meeting of the Reserve Bank on the issues of finance crunch by the MSMEs, Rai said the apex bank is keeping a tab on funding by each of the commercial banks.
    
Special cells have been created in the MSME Ministry and the Small Industries Development Bank of India to monitor whether the recent stimulus packages are being implemented or not.