Gujarat govt, NSDC, private companies to jointly set up Gujarat Skill Development Corporation

Gandhinagar: Gujarat government has joined hands with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to establish Gujarat Skill Development Corporation (GSDC). The approval to set up GSDC was OKayed by the Board of NSDC in its meeting on Friday.

The state government will hold 25% shareholding in GSDC, and NSDC 24%. The remaining 51% shares are proposed to be held by 10 private companies from the state, with each of them holding 5.1% stake. Around Rs. 100 crore will be required as seed fund for GSDC. The state government has made a provision of Rs. 30 crore towards the same in the budget for 2020-21.

GSDC will work for creating and supporting skills training institutes in the state, and also provide skill development related to technical and financial assistance to state government agencies. It will collaborate in creating Gujarat specific innovative models, and support the sustainability of state-level initiatives, and facilitate the sharing of best practices from other states and between the Centre and state. Activities such as skill financing, CSR lead skilling, capacity building, industry connect, market analytics, international collaborations, knowledge and advisory services, and NSQF courses, which are presently undertaken by NSDC will be done by GSDC when it becomes operational.

“This will enable private sector investment in skill development in the state through replication of national-level Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. It is projected that there will be a requirement of more than 20 lakh skilled workforce in Gujarat by the year 2022. Setting up of GSDC will add pace to the existing skill development programs and play a big role in making available trained workforce in the state,” said Vipul Mittra, additional chief secretary, Labour and Employment department.

Mittra said that NSDC will provide equity funding and also necessary support in hiring, technology services, technical inputs, advisory services, financing services, among others to GSDC.

“NSDC will also undertake capacity building in GSDC, which will be able to leverage NSDC’s expertise and experience in driving quality in the skills ecosystem at the state-level,” he said.

DeshGujarat