National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Toyota Kirloskar Motor [TKM] and Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC) to train 18,000 students in three years, with special focus on rural areas, making them more employable through the company’s unique training initiative — Toyota Technical Education Program (T-TEP). These students will be trained across five automotive job roles such as General Technician, Body and Paint Technician, Service Advisor, Sales consultants and Call Center Staff.

The MoU was exchanged between Mr. Ved Mani Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer and Officiating CEO, NSDC, Mr. Arindam Lahiri, CEO, ASDC, and Mr. Sabari Manohar R, GM, TKM in the presence of Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar Minister of State for Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Mr. Vikram Gulati, Executive Vice President, TKM.

Aimed at generating talented and technically skilled professionals for the automobile industry, T-TEP is strongly aligned with Skill India Mission and so far, been associated with 56 ITI/Polytechnic colleges covering 21 states. Currently more than 10,000 students have been trained and 70% of the students are working in various automobile companies.

On this occasion, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s initiative, in collaboration with NSDC and ASDC, to establish skill development centers across the country with a special focus on rural areas will have a big impact in making the students highly skilled, employable, and future ready. This effort is aligned with the Government of India’s Skill India Mission. The government is committed to encouraging, supporting and collaborating with industry partners like Toyota by providing them with a platform that will boost their efforts in bridging the existing skills gap and help develop a workforce of global standards, he added.

The Minister further added that Automotive sector is an important pillar of Indian economy and offers huge scope in the manufacturing economy over the next 5-6 years. India can also be the Principal Pole for future of Automobile Sector in India thereby creating huge opportunities for Skilling. The partnership with Toyota is going to be an important one to shape this new direction to Skilling and also serves as a shining example for other manufacturing companies to partner with Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship through NSDC to take PM’s vision of making India a Global Skills Hub forward, he added.

Lauding the initiative, Mr. Ved Mani Tiwari, COO and Officiating CEO, NSDC, said that Automotive industry is growing tremendously and since 2006 T-TEP has become a benchmark in imparting automotive training and providing immense benefits to the automotive service industry and society at large. By partnering with TKM and ASDC, NSDC will not only be able to build a highly skilled technical workforce, with greater career prospects in the automotive service industry, but also enable youngsters earn a decent livelihood by providing them with employment opportunities. This partnership will also encourage other automotive players to step forward in making India a Skill Capital of the World, he added.

Talking about this partnership, Mr. Arindam Lahiri, CEO, ASDC said with advancements in technology in the auto industry and unprecedent growth in motorization, we need to ensure that the consumers receive the best-in-class services, especially in rural areas. To align with it we will be needing highly skilled technicians, making it imperative that students at technical training centres have access to advanced technologies and gain hands-on training experience. With this collaboration, training partners will get an opportunity to understand Toyota’s values, best practices, and advanced technologies which will benefit not only the students but also the entire industry, thereby contribute toward the Skill India Mission, he added.

Expressing his views Mr. Vikram Gulati, Executive Vice President, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said that Toyota is known for its exceptional quality products and services, which stems from developing world-class people, processes, and infrastructure. We are continuously growing and adapting to the changing needs and dynamics of the auto industry. Through the T-TEP initiative, we are striving to provide talented youths with training and access to advanced technologies. It is my firm belief that this new collaboration with NSDC and ASDC will strengthen the talent available at the grassroot level and help them upskill as per the market requirements, he added.

As a part of this initiative, ASDC will identify the institute as per the requirements and Toyota will support the institute with latest curriculum covering automobile fundamentals, safety, Toyota values and basic soft skills. In addition, the company will provide e-learning content, engines, transmissions, practice kits and train the institute’s faculty through Train The Trainer approach. Further Toyota dealer partner will support skill development centers in sustenance and extend On-Job-Training to all the students. ASDC would support in infrastructure enhancement and ensure student training. TKM, dealer partners and ASDC will also conduct quarterly audits to ensure the training quality. Post successful completion of T-TEP course the student will be certified by Toyota, NSDC & ASDC.

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MJPS/AK