Skill development for accelerating the manufacturing sector: the role of ‘new-age’ skills for ‘Make in India’

Abstract

India is one of the fastest growing major economies and has a burgeoning young workforce. The average age in India will be 29 years by 2020. Given the limitations of absorbing growing labor force– especially the unskilled and semi-skilled– in service sector, focus has to be on spurring manufacturing growth to take advantage of this large pool of manpower. The ‘Make in India’ has a grand vision of creating 100 million jobs by 2021. This ambitious program is designed to turn the subcontinent into a‘global manufacturing hub’ and increase jobs by providing afresh impetus to the economy. Running high on this momentum, the government has initiated several policies such as ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India’ to complement ‘Make in India’. Attempting to tap this aggressive policy push, stakeholders are focusing on developing right skills to address the growing skill gap in various manufacturing sectors in the context of changing industrial landscape defined by new-age technologies. This chapter will present India’s perspective on how country is working towards developing a cohesive environment for ‘new-age’ manufacturing and ‘future ready’ manpower.