A leading industry lobby has formed a 'Knowledge and Skills Development Mission' to leverage e-learning and technology to promote knowledge-led manufacturing and services industries in the country.
Targeted to help India become a knowledge hub by 2020, the mission will be chaired by Ashok Soota, chairman and managing director of MindTree Consulting Pvt Ltd, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The mission will also identify and bridge critical skills gap in partnership with institutions of higher learning," the statement added.
The partnership is expected to improve the quality of education and employability of youngsters.
Besides knowledge and skills, CII is planning to focus on three other missions - manufacturing innovation, inclusiveness growth and sustainable growth - to help improve India's competitiveness while striving for sustainable high growth.
"The current pace of economic growth in India is fast outstripping the supply of qualified professionals. This, coupled with globalisation, is raising the competitive bar for companies and is placing new demands on our capacity to meet market requirements," CII stated.
The statement points out that the available talent pool in the country is much smaller than it seems, "partly because of skill mismatches, but mainly because sheer numbers do not equal high quality, thereby adversely impacting on our competitiveness".