The Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC) is the first sector skill council in the country promoted by the auto industry, which addresses the skills gap facing the sector. Almost 20 million people are employed directly or indirectly in the sector which is one of the biggest employment multipliers. It cuts across hard core Research & Development, Manufacturing, Sales, after-sales Service and also Road Transportation domains. With the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government manufacturing sector is expected to see considerable growth in coming years.
In an interview to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Sunil K. Chaturvedi, CEO, ASDC, briefed on the role of the Council in improving the skills of those who seek an entry into any segment of the auto industry. Similarly the council also has responsibility for skill upgradation of people already employed in the sector.
He said: “We are pleased to say that today we have covered the entire value chain of the auto industry in terms of skill standards. We have skill standards for various job roles offered by the industry across the value chain from R&D, manufacturing, sales and service.
There are several skills related challenges faced by our sector. One of the challenges we want to address is to attract the youth to take up a career in automotive industry. We should be able to have a dignified entry for people and also to show them a career path. We have qualifications or skill standards for varying levels of responsibility. Though it is an organised sector yet, almost 80 per cent of employment is in the non-formal sector.” Road side mechanics, shop floor workers in micro, small manufacturing domain, driving all offer large scale non formal employment.
The Council also addresses the skill standards for research and development, manufacturing and support functions like logistics, supply chain, stores management, etc.
Highlighting this point, Mr. Chaturvedi said: “We have almost 150 training delivery partners who run nearly 2,000 centres. Auto majors like Ashok Leyland, Volvo-Eicher and Sona Steering, who had their own training centres, are now affiliated to ASDC. They give training according to the ASDC standards and get their candidates evaluated and certified by ASDC. Since ASDC is a body created and promoted by the automotive industry, all major OEMs, component manufacturers and dealers came together to develop this common platform for skill development.”
Cumulatively, ASDC has delivered around 60,000 certifications so far. Initial market reports suggest that these certified candidates are finding better employment opportunities including higher remuneration. ASDC is continuously seeking feedback for improvement and refinement of skill standards.
In an increasingly globalized world, one exciting future initiative is the Indian and Australian Governments’ joint initiative to create transnational skill standards, added Mr. Chaturvedi. This would enable Indian youth to take up work in Australia and other territories such as the Middle East that accept Australian qualifications.