Adayana to train 1.5 lakh workers in auto sector

Adayana Inc, a learning services company, will launch a range of its workforce development initiatives to help address critical skills shortage faced by several industries in India.

The Minneapolis, US-headquartered company with operations in Hyderabad, has partnered the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) to train around 1.5 lakh workers every year for employability in the automotive sector.

"We have identified around 15 job categories in the automotive sector. To start with, we will be launching a pilot programme with around 2,000 workers across the country from September 5 to January 10 in the service technician-I category," Rajiv Tandon, chief executive officer of Adayana, told mediapersons here on Thursday.

The programme is initially being offered in Hindi and English, and the company intends to introduce it in another five regional languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Bengali soon.

Tandon said similar initiatives were planned in other sectors including healthcare, construction and retail. "We will roll out a pilot in each of these sectors in the next 12 months," he said.

The country is adding around one lakh beds a year, which require approximately six lakh staff, according to him.

"We see huge potential in the healthcare sector and plan to launch training programmes. We are currently in talks with two corporate hospitals in the south for the purpose, which are in advanced stages," he said.

Adayana had, in June this year, raised $20 million (approximately Rs 80 crore) from London-based private equity firm Kubera Cross Border Fund.

The company plans to invest these funds in increasing its human resources, creating necessary infrastructure and developing new training modules during this financial year. "We currently employ 70 in the country and plan to add 100 more during this fiscal," Tandon said.

The company had also introduced a 150-hour foundation course six months ago and has tied up with five universities including JCK College in Guntur, Madhurai Kamaraj University and University of Allahabad. "These are testing grounds, and our target is to reach 200 universities in the country two years down the line," he added.

Adayana Inc posted a turnover of $15 million (Rs 60 crore) last year, and its revenue outlook for the current fiscal is around $40 million (Rs 160 crore).