IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd in collaboration with the West Bengal Government will set up a skill development centre here for IT and ITeS courses.

As part of the National Skill Development Corporation’s programme, IL&FS Education, a subsidiary of IL&FS India, expects to train 2,000 people a year for five years at the proposed local centre.

“We are likely to sign a memorandum of understanding with Webel, the State Government’s nodal agency that promotes software and electronics industry, for this on Wednesday,” Shourie Chatterji, Vice-President of ILFS Education, told reporters after a seminar on skill development, organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

The skill development centre is expected to be commissioned by September. “Though NSDC’s mandate is to ensure 75 per cent placement, we target to achieve 100 per cent for the proposed local centre,” he added.

IL&FS Education also plans to set up three multi-skill training centres in the State at Howrah, Durgapur and Siliguri.

Trained Manpower

Dilip Chenoy, CEO and Managing Director of NSDC, said private sector employers need value trained manpower.

“There is a requirement for 347 million skilled people in the country and nearly 12.5 million trained workers enter the workforce every year,” Chenoy said.

In certain sectors, the gap between the demand and supply of skilled workers was yawning. He pointed out that the job market entrants were less keen to join infrastructure and construction-related skill development courses but interested in IT and ITeS courses.

“Nearly $1 trillion is likely to be invested in infrastructure in the 12th Five-year Plan and the industry requires 103 million skilled workers,” he said.

ayan.pramanik@the hindu.co.in