The Hindu Business Line : Bharti Wal-Mart inks pact for skills training centre

New Delhi, Nov. 12 Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores Inc for wholesale cash-and-carry, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Punjab Government to establish a special skills training centre in Amritsar.

This public-private partnership has been forged with the aim of bridging the shortage of skilled workers for cash-and-carry and organised retail formats.

The skills training centre will be called ‘Bharti Wal-Mart Training Centre’. It will initially offer short-term vocational certification courses that will equip candidates to become floor and sales assistants or supervisors through a special curriculum developed by Wal-Mart, along with Bharti Learning Systems, which will also manage and run the centre.

Mr Raj Jain, Managing Director and CEO, Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd, said in a release, “Specialised operations such as cash-and-carry and other organised retail formats promise good growth and job prospects, but they require a customer service mindset and very different skills from what is available today. We look forward to partnering with the Punjab Government in this joint effort to bridge the skills gap and enhance employability. At a later stage, when our skill centre capacity is fully utilised, we will explore the possibility of using classrooms at other ITIs/Polytechnics across Punjab to increase coverage.”

The centre is expected to train approximately 125 candidates each month.

Certification for floor assistants and sales assistant will be two week half-day programmes with an additional week-long programme for supervisors. Those opting for front-end retail jobs will be required to attend a week-long programme. All enrolled candidates will be awarded 100 per cent scholarships. Candidates will be co-certified by Bharti Wal-Mart and the Department of Technical Education, Government of Punjab.

Punjab plans

Bharti Wal-Mart also announced that membership registration for its self-service cash-and-carry stores by bonafide business owners in Punjab has begun. Scheduled to open in Punjab in 2009, the Bharti Wal-Mart cash-and-carry stores will be open exclusively to business owners, not end-consumers.

Mr Jain said, “When we announced the joint venture in August last year we gave ourselves a window of 18-24 months to launch our first wholesale cash-and-carry store. We are firmly on track and we have begun registration of membership in Punjab in advance of the store opening to enable us better forecast and serve the needs of our commercial customers.”

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