Indian industry should reward skills with higher wages and follow a comprehensive skill certification programme, if they aspire to emulate the IT industry in building an environment conducive for business growth, said S Ramadorai, Chairman, National Skill Development Corporation and Vice-Chairman, Tata Consultancy Services.

“I have been in skills development for the past few years, and I find the industry does not value a skilled worker, who is the foundation of any business, especially manufacturing,” he told graduates at the convocation ceremony at Great Lakes Institute of Management here on Thursday.

Expertise is scarce

About 70 per cent of the employees in a hotel or a typical factory are blue-collar workers and their contribution should be recognised with higher wages for better skills, he said.

Workers with expertise are getting scarcer and are largely in the unorganised business sector, which makes up about 93 per cent of the total businesses in the country, he said, stressing the need to bring them into the organised fold through certifications and skill development programmes. The graduating students are entering a business world in the backdrop of a new Government that has promised change. In business too, the buzz word is change, with e-commerce turning around operating models and entrepreneurship being encouraged by B-schools in a big way.

Early investment

“Online sites like kickstarter.com wherein you could upload your idea and anyone in the world can fund your idea is redefining how funding is done for new companies,” he said.

All said, businesspersons of the future should invest early on in order to build an ecosystem for business. “The IT industry’s success is not a matter of luck and chance but these early investments in the ecosystem,” he said.

Bala V Balachandran, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes, said, chasing success at any cost makes little meaning. Success with integrity makes a good businessperson, he said.

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