The Hindu Business Line : New Horizons on expansion mode

Hyderabad, Jan. 20 New Horizons India, part of the US-based $350-million IT training major with an accent on enterprise learning solutions, is poised to expand its Indian operations both for training and lately for content development.

As a part of the expansion project, New Horizons is in the process of setting up a content development centre in Chennai to focus on customised learning solutions. With about 300 people, this centre would complement the recently commissioned centre in Noida.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of New Horizons India, Mr Ajay Sharma, said there is growing need for technology training to increase the overall employable talent pool.

specialised areas

Skill upgradation is one of the specialised areas of learning, which has forced some of the large technology firms to develop these capabilities in-house. However, there continues to be huge demand, which is evident from the increasing focus of corporations to outsource their learning.

Mr Sharma told Business Line large number of graduates coming out from engineering colleges is misleading as the actual employable pool is just about 15 per cent. These graduates require re-skilling and this could be addressed by Skill Bridge courses.

With technology sector grabbing graduates even as they are in their fourth year, there is little time to groom them. Therefore, while enterprises having internal learning centres subject them to training, others prefer a customised learning.

Training centres

The company entered India through a joint venture with Shriram group company —Shriram Global Technologies and Education Ltd. The company plans to open over 75 training centres across the country, through a combination of owned centres and franchisees.

As a part of backward integration, the company has taken to customised content development services.

The company had, last year, established a content development centre in Noida and is in the process of establishing another centre in Chennai. This centre would be operational by March-April, he said.