Date:31/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/31/stories/2006123113080500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Rs. 160 crore for creation of jobs

Staff Reporter

Meet to discuss manpower shortage

BANGALORE: Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu on Saturday said that the State Government would earmark Rs. 160 crore in the next budget to upgrade skills and create more jobs for the youth.

Speaking after inaugurating a walk-in written test and interview for BPO aspirants under the Suvarna Kayaka Udyoga Shikshana scheme at R.C. College here, he said that a meeting of industry captains would be held on January 15 to discuss the shortage of manpower and the ways to overcome it.

He said the Government was aware of the dearth of talent in the State and the scheme for the youth to upgrade their skills had been launched to overcome the problem. The aim was to train one-lakh youth by March end.

Mr. Naidu said the scheme had evoked good response from the youth and 93,000 applications had been received. Of them, 39,523 had been short-listed for training and various BPO companies had hired 13,323 candidates, he added.

T. Mohandas Pai, Infosys Technologies Director (Human Resources), said 10 lakh people would be trained over the next five years. Schemes such as suvarna kayaka would help in overcoming the problem.

On Saturday, 500 candidates from Bangalore and Kolar districts appeared for the walk-in written test and interview conducted by Infosys Technologies for jobs in the BPO segment. Of them, 150 were short-listed.