Essar Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of business conglomerate Essar, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Skill Development Corporation to provide job-oriented vocational training.

In the first phase, 1,000 youth across eight cities will be provided training in customer service, tele-calling and marketing and sales. Essar Foundation will provide Rs 40 lakh to the programme, and also extend its support in ensuring linkages towards employing the trained youth.

The first batch is expected to begin training by June 2015 in Delhi NCR and Ahmedabad, the company said in a statement.

“Statistics suggest by 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64 per cent of its population in the working age group. This would mean much greater thrust on skills that make the youth job-ready and employable in real market scenarios,” said Deepak Arora, CEO, Essar Foundation.

“Essar Foundation is already active in skilling the youth in the rural and semi-urban areas and with this programme, we can take our initiative even further,” said Deepak Arora, CEO, Essar Foundation,” he added.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in