National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the fledgling company promoted by the union finance ministry (under section 25) to catalyse private sector involvement in training manpower, has now teamed up with Gras Hospitality Services, a leading organisation in the field of skill development / vocational training with 20 fully operational centres, for skilling 1.3 million youth in different trades across 21 states and 176 districts over a 10-year period.

As per the agreement, NSDC will now provide Rs 62 crore by way of a loan to Gras for executing the project that will provide training in organised retail, healthcare, services, building and construction, automobiles and auto components, tourism, hospitality and the travel trade, electronics, IT, and banking and insurance. “Gras is already an established player in skill development, training and vocational education. We are confident that our tie-up with Gras would encourage other organisations involved in similar ventures to establish linkages with the National Skill Development Corporation,” NSDC chairman MV Subbiah said.

It may be mentioned here that at present, Gras, floated by two IIM alumni, Ajay Swarup and Gautam Sengupta has 20 fully operational centres and trains students in mobile repairing, laptop repairing, shop floor training and basic accounting to name a few. Gras has already trained over 10,000 students so far.

Swarup said, “This is a big moment for us at Gras, as we move forward in our journey to set up 325 skill development centres pan-India.” Sengupta, the other Gras director, on his parts, said, “Our association permits Gras to scale up and grow more quickly than we would otherwise have been able to do.”