SKF India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC) for the accreditation of SKF India’s YES (Youth Empowerment at SKF) centres.

SKF India’s YES program was initiated in 2015, which aimed to prepare underprivileged youth to work at various automotive OEMs, dealer service network and workshops and also impart entrepreneurial skills to enable them to set up their own vehicle service stations in future.

The participants undergo six months of rigorous vocational training in automotive two-wheeler and four-wheeler repair as per the Modular Employability Skills (MES) course of the government of India’s Ministry of Employment and Training. The program additionally trains students in personality, communication skills, customer service, goal setting, financing and business management skills.

At present the programme is being undertake in cities like Pune, Bangalore, Jorhat, Haridwar and will soon begin in Ahmadabad. SKF India says it has made an investment of around Rs 12 crore per centre in Machines, equipment’s Vehicles tools, cut models and computers.

The MoU was handed over by Manish Bhatnagar, MD, SKF India and Arindam Lahiri, CEO, ASDC at the YES centre Bangalore during the convocation ceremony of 71 students of various YES Batches.

Commenting on the occasion, Bhatnagar said “It is indeed a good opportunity to have YES accredited with ASDC. Owing to a spurt in the growth of the automotive sector, this accreditation will further help us in enhancing our efforts towards adding skilled workforce to new India. In addition to this our primary vision with this accreditation is to bring about a positive change in the life of the communities.”

Sharing his thoughts on the partnership, Lahiri said, “We are extremely delighted to partner with automotive major, SKF, in our commitment towards skilling and higher value addition of the workforce in India. ASDC and SKF will collaboratively skill the youth in the service domain at SKF facilities in Pune, Bangalore, Haridwar and Jorhat.” 

The beneficiaries undergo six months of rigorous and on job training on two-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles, that helps in improving their employability in OEM Services and multi-brand garages. This is 23rd batch and total 514 students have been certified from this centre. SKF India says till date, the CSR program has 1,830 beneficiaries associated with the YES Program in India. SKF provides entrepreneurship training to beneficiary and also support for mentoring and returnable start up fund for the program.