New 'National Skill Development Policy 2015' to reinforce India's Growth story

ASSOCHAM welcomes the Government's recent announcement to launch the National Skill Development Policy 2015 by March-April. The policy, which is in line with the Government's on-going efforts on 'Skill India', would aid in revamping the current NSDP (National Skill Development Policy 2009).

The skilled workforce in India, compared to countries like South Korea (96%), Japan (80%), Germany (75%) and Britain (70%), is estimated at only 2% of the total workforce. Expected to bridge the existing skilled workforce gap of 30 Crore, the new policy aims to skill one in every four Indian by 2020. The ambitious target set by the Government, if implemented in the right spirit, will help bridge gaps in crucial sectors such as Infrastructure, Healthcare and Manufacturing. ASSOCHAM highlights the following key issues to be resolved in order to ensure successful implementation of NSDP 2015:

Streamlining the Institutional Structure - Complex structures in the existing policy, spread across multiple sectors and schemes, need to be realigned in order to ensure smooth implementation and effective monitoring of the NSDP 2015

Lack of trained personnel - The National Skill Development Policy 2009, with the bandwidth to facilitate nearly 3.1 million personnel (compared to over 12 million new entrants), leaves open a huge gap in the skill development requirements of the nation. The chamber recommends immediate measures to strengthen the skill development and training infrastructure with support from the private sector

Mismatch in providing vocational training - The existing skill development policy does not focus on providing vocational training to casual workers, leading to a shortage of skilled laborers. With close to 90% of the labor force comprising of the casual workforce, it is imperative for the Government to provide vocational training in a more regularized manner so as to ensure better ratio of skilled to unskilled labor.

ASSOCHAM is confident of the success of the upcoming Policy and strongly believes that it will not only augment skilled workforce in India, but also enhance employee productivity; thereby reinforcing the Government's 'Make in India' initiative.

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