Maruti Suzuki staffers win laurels at India Skills Competition

Staffers from the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki have bagged the  gold, silver and bronze prizes at the recently held India Skills Competition 2018 in New Delhi under the Auto Body repair and Car Painting skill categories.

In the Auto Body Repair category, the Maruti Suzuki team was represented by Suraj (Gold) , Sajad Ansari (Silver), and Kunal Saini (Bronze). The participants were trained at the Maruti Suzuki Training Academy, (MSTA) Gurgaon, under the company’s Skill Development program.

In the Car Painting category, Govind Kumar Sonkar from the Maruti Suzuki dealership in Kanpur, Prakash Sharma, an apprentice at Maruti Suzuki and Tony Joseph from Maruti Suzuki dealership in Kerala won the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively. These participants also have been trained at MSTA.

The Gold medal winners will now represent India at the World Skills International Competition to be held in Kazan, Russia in 2019. The union minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Anant Kumar Hegde felicitated the winners at a ceremony in Delhi.

MSTA is the in-house training arm of Maruti Suzuki that focuses on skill development of both its employees as well as of its business partners – vendors and dealers. Through this centre, the company identifies skill gaps and prepares people for future business opportunities by empowering them with relevant skills.

Congratulating the winners, Rajesh Uppal, senior executive director (HR and IT) Maruti Suzuki, said “It is a proud moment that the team will represent our nation on a world platform in two of the niche automobile skills – Auto Body Repair and Car Painting. My sincere compliments to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the team at National Skill Development Corporation for organising this world class event. I am happy that the participants have excelled from the training provided at Maruti Suzuki Training Academy. We will work further with these winners to prepare them for the World Skill Competition 2019.”

Maruti Suzuki works with over 110 ITIs across the country to provide quality training programmes covering all manufacturing trades. It has set up Automobile Skill Enhancement Centres (ASECs), which are model workshops for practical training using latest tools and equipment, across 73 tie-ups with ITIs. In FY2017-18 the company developed a skill development institute, Japan India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM), as part of a joint initiative by the governments of Japan and India.

The India Skills Competition 2018 is organised by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. In its third year, the biennial event saw over 400 participants across 27 states compete across 60 skills categories.