Skill development: Govt sees 51% jump in manpower trained at MSME Tool Rooms, Tech Centres in FY20

Skill, Labour, Talent for MSMEs: MSME Ministry’s 28 Tool Rooms and Technology Development Centres in the country engaged in providing tools, trained workforce, and consultancy services in tooling and related areas have seen a jump of 51 per cent in the number of people trained or skilled in the financial year 2019-20 from the preceding FY. From 1,69,556 manpower trained in FY19, the number increased to 2,56,170 in FY20, according to the data sourced from the MSME Ministry’s Development Commissioner (MSME) — Skill Development Management Information System. The growth rate was also up from a 37.6 per cent jump in trained personnel during the FY18-19 period.

Tool Rooms or Technology Centres provide precision tooling along with new technologies including CAD/CAM, CNC machining for tooling, vacuum heat treatment, rapid prototyping, etc. apart from providing skilled manpower. The existing centres cater to markets such as footwear, electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM), aerospace, auto parts, sports goods, glass, fragrance and flavour, etc. located in cities and towns including in Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Chennai, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Pudi, Rohtak, Guwahati, etc.

The total skilled workforce strength in FY19 was out of 1,99,073 manpower being trained out of which 29,517 were in-progress during the financial year. Likewise, the total manpower receiving training in FY20 stood at 2,80,655 out of which 24,485 were in-progress trainees. For FY21 so far, 46,980 was the total reported number of trainees at these 28 Tool Rooms and Technology Development Centres out of which 39,028 were trained and 7,952 were in-progress, according to the latest data as of January 4, 2021, on the Skill Development MIS.

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MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari in August 2020 had said that the government is setting up 15 new Technology Centres along with upgrading the existing 18 such centres to assist MSMEs in their technical upgradation and also to create skilled manpower required to make India a manufacturing hub. However, the government is now looking to lease these centers to engineering institutions for practical training to the youth towards research and innovation.

“We already have a lot of technology centers in the country and till now we have invested Rs 6,000 crore in it. But now we are planning to give technology centers on a lease basis to engineering colleges, IITs, polytechnic colleges, and industry associations for them to understand what exactly practical training is needed in that area. We need to develop products, designs and it is the need of the hour,” Gadkari had said in December during a webinar organised by a pro-entrepreneurship alliance of organisations — Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME).