Vinod Aggarwal appointed ASDC president, Nikunj Sanghi’s 4-year tenure ends

There is change at the helm of Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC), the first sector skill Council of India, promoted by the Indian automobile industry,

Industry veteran Vinod Aggarwal, Treasurer, SIAM and MD and CEO of VE Commercial Vehicles, has been appointed President. The announcement was made at the ASDC Convention yesterday.  FADA president Vinkesh Gulati and Mr Singhvi are part of the new team. 

He replaces Nikunj Sanghi, who has spearheaded ASDC’s growth for the past 4 years. Sanghi tweeted: “A decade- long most engaging association which has been both enriching and fulfilling. My best wishes to ASDC and the new team under the able guidance of an industry veteran Mr. Vinod Aggarwal.”

During Sanghi's tenure, ASDC has grown from strength to strength, pioneering new and advanced educational and assessment parameters towards the vision of ASDC. 

Making a difference
Speaking at the ASDC Conclave Sanghi said, “ASDC is 10 years old today and it looks like only yesterday. It has been a long journey but one full of events, ups and downs. We have had failures but we overcame them with the support of the entire ecosystem, the three parent associations – SIAM, ACMA and FADA – and the government of India, Morth and the Ministry of Skill Development. Today, ASDC is among the premier skill development councils that the country has among the 37 sector skill councils currently functional.”

“A lot has happened in these 10 years. I think our biggest achievement has been the industry and ecosystem engagement. ASDC was probably the first sector skill council to fulfil each and every parameter which the government had thought when they formed the sector skill council. We had industry engagement and representation from government.”

“We started with grants but I am glad to say that did not even use the full grants. We are today self-sufficient, sustainable for long. We have built up a strong base. We have a lot of firsts to our credit. One of them is digitising the assessment system. We approach TCS iON, the premier institution which is conducting  UPSC, joint entrance exams for engineering colleges. We have since certified almost 30,000 candidates. The platform is free of human intervention – even the practicals are done on video."

Digital learning hub, India as a global skill capital 
Sanghi continued, "The other thing we did was develop a digital learning hub, which got accelerated during the pandemic, and available at the click of a button. Again, collaboration with TCS iON and a lot of our industry partners who have contributed a lot of content free to download.

Finally, we are working on and have piloted a listing platform to close the loop – from training, to listing to getting employed – and hosted on ASDC. The entire value chain from the trainee to the training partner to the employer will be available on the platform. The Prime Minister has spoken about India being the skilling capital of the world and we have started work on it. Our first batch of trainees is currently under training and will very soon be going to Germany as auto technicians, which that market requires. This is a pilot right now but once successful, we will be able to give the entire world skilled manpower in which India is rich and we have proved it in the IT industry, that we have the talent and the capability."

ASDC envisions making India self-sufficient in availability of skilled personnel for sustaining growth and increasing competitiveness of the automobile industry. ASDC has over 240 training partners, 800 certified assessors, 14 expert groups with 295 industry experts and over 2,000 training centres. 

ASDC is the skill development arm of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) along with the Government of India represented by Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

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