NSDC soft loans to 157 training partners in last 3 yrs: Govt

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has disbursed soft loans worth nearly Rs 500 crore to as many as 157 training partners during the last three years, Parliament was informed today.
While Rs 236.76 crore was given in 2013-14, Rs 135.78 crore and Rs 122.57 crore was given in 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
In a separate reply, he said that NSDC is building research base in the skills domain and has commissioned several district and sector level skill gap studies.
As per NSDC's sector specific reports on human resource and skill requirements in the 24 sectors, India had an employment base of 461.1 million in 2013 which is expected to increase to 581 million in 2022.

"Thus, about 120 million people would be added to the workforce who need fresh skilling in these sectors," he said.
He also said that NSDC has commissioned a study on overseas skill requirements in order to prepare Indian youth for employment opportunities overseas.
The study covers 20 key countries including seven GCC countries, Australia and Canada.
"As per the report, largest increase in job creation by 2020 is expected in the Asian emerging markets, with jobs in Singapore and Malaysia increasing by 100 per cent and 22 per cent respectively," he added.