Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in partnership with the World Bank organized a Google+ Hangout with participants from some of India’s largest companies to enable greater engagement in the skills space in September. It marked one of the first direct engagements between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the corporate sector. The panelists consisted of Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State (I/C) SDE; Mr Rohit Nandan, Secretary, SDE; Mr S. Ramadorai, Chairman - NSDA and NSDC and Mr Onno Ruhl, Country Director - World Bank. Heads of large Indian corporate houses like SBI, BHEL, Amazon, ICICI Bank, Mahindra, ONGC, TCS and Lemon Tree Hotels were among the others present at the event. The discussion was moderated by Ms Shereen Bhan from CNBC TV18.

The Google+ Hangout, saw the Government and corporates discuss innovative models for skill development which have been successful in small pockets and could be scaled up to benefit the community. The topic of how Corporate Social Responsibility funds of Indian companies can be channeled towards skill development initiatives of the Government was also on the agenda for the discussion. The Minister highlighted that there were silos in the skill development landscape which need to be tackled by removing disconnect between individual skill development efforts initiated by various entities and setting national standards of skilling and certification. The integration process started by the Government would help scale skill development efforts across the country. Citing international examples, the Minister exalted industry and corporates to play a proactive role in the skill training ecosystem of the country.