Training and Development Scenario in India

By Priya Chetty on October 6, 2011

With the changing time and even fast changing technologies Indian companies have started realizing the importance of corporate training. As the companies are setting up their branches all over the world, becoming multinational corporations they need trained employees who can raise the profits. Today, training is considered as a tool for employee retention. The cost incurred on training an individual in a company is recovered if the employee improves his skills after the training is imparted and the productivity is raised. Training has now become important in every field be it Sales, Marketing, Human Resource, Logistics, Engineering, Production and Manufacturing, Inventory Management etc. Indian companies fulfill their requirement of skilled workforce by providing on-the-job trainings and other internal educational programs which are designed to quickly improve the expertise of new recruits especially in the high-tech industry. According to NASSCOM there is a tremendous rise in the IT corporate training market which is expected to reach Rs. 600 crore in 2010 from Rs. 210 crore (Training Scenario in Indian Industry, www.naukrihub.com ).

(Source: Training Scenario in Indian Industry, www.naukrihub.com)
Fig 1. (Source: Training Scenario in Indian Industry, www.naukrihub.com)

According to the research done by Kauffman Foundation in the Kansas City (Wadhwa, 2010), These steps have been taken due to problems with the uneven education system, which many companies believe is still lagging in the areas of technology research and development.

In a report co-written by Harvard and Duke researchers (“How the Disciple Became the Guru: Is it time for the U.S. to learn workforce development former disciple, India?”), they have taken for study 24 Indian companies in emerging sectors, including IT, business process outsourcing, software, pharmaceutical, and retail, financial, hospital, and education services. According to the findings of the study, all sectors have grown quickly in spite of major roadblocks which are termed as “skills shortfalls and talent shortages” (Riley, 2008).

InIndia, the development efforts for the workforce are being done very late and above all they are not innovative or very unique. TheU.S.and European companies have been using such programs from decades for their employees. Innovation comes from integrating programs into day-to-day operations and systems of career advancement; the use of technology in managing the processes; and the decision-making that is based on them. In 2007, India’s top five IT companies—TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, and HCL had recruited around 120,000 new employees, most of them coming straight from Indian universities. Training provided to them, described as “Freshers’ Training”, is a major part of corporate strategy, with CEOs and many senior employees often deeply involved. It is costly and time-consuming as all the new recruits are at their nascent stage to understand the practical implications of the theory which they had studied. But there’s a paradox: Although the Indian model works well, it is only for India-specific reasons.Indialacks a sound accreditation system for higher education. The workforce absorbs and trains most students who graduate from unaccredited institutions. For the political and economic stability of a country it’s important to engage youth in technological development. (Sheila Riley, 2008)

References:

  • Wadhwa, V., “A Disciple Becomes the Guru Should the United States Learn from India”, Harvard International Review, Available from http://ssrn.com/abstract=1349457, Retrieved on 2nd March, 2010
  • Riley, S. (2008), “Indian companies turn to internal training for IT expertise development”, EE Times.

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