The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), inked three Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Blinkit, Apna, and Quess Corp. The statement issued to inform about the development added that the move is aimed at generating employment and promoting skill development. 

The partnerships also aim at creating a readily available workforce for diverse industries, each contributing to different sectors of the economy. While Apna and Quess Corp will be integrating their jobs platforms with Skill India Digital through SSO, the MoU with Blinkit will co-create curriculum, and skill the workforce for the emerging quick-commerce Industry and its warehouse job roles.   

Lauding the initiative, Ved Mani Tiwari, CEO and MD of NSDC International said, “By collaborating with private businesses, NSDC designs and implements training programmes that equip individuals with the necessary skills demanded by the evolving job market. The organisation's commitment to driving skill development has a cascading effect, positively influencing economic growth and enhancing the employability of millions across diverse sectors in India."  

The partnership with Blinkit will also focus on the recruitment of candidates, capable of making immediate contributions to the identified job role in the quick commerce segment. Furthermore, Quess will support NSDC in mobilizing employers to engage in Job Fairs. And Apna will provide industry insights to NSDC and aid in conducting surveys with key employers, the official statement added. 

Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, recently underscored a noteworthy shift in India's unemployment rate, reduced to 3.2 per cent from 6 per cent in 2017, while concurrently welcoming an additional 1.5 crore citizens to the skilling ecosystem in 2022-23.  

Founded in 2019, apna.co is a jobs and professional networking platform. In the past, the company has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to assist in relaunching the program aimed at creating employment opportunities for graduates. Apna.co contributes by providing new cloud tech talent in partnership with the Generation India Foundation.

On the other hand, Blinkit, a subsidiary of Zomato, achieved positive contribution for the first time in the quarter ending September 30, 2023 (Q2 FY24), marking a nearly 24 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter compared to the 36.8 million recorded in the preceding quarter.