The retail industry has turned to the unemployed youth registered with the state employment exchanges. The Retailers’ Association of India (Rai) has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to train the youth registered with the state employment exchanges. “As a pilot project, we trained 300 unemployed youth registered in the Maharashtra Employment Exchange beginning in April this year,” said Rai CEO Gibson Vedamani. Over 93 per cent were later employed in the retail sector itself. Rai has a membership of 146 retail companies like Vishal Retail Ltd, Subhiksha, Big Bazaar and the Tata’s Croma Store, which absorb the trained workforce, he added. Rai’s training partners impart 100-hour training courses at its six centres in Maharashtra, with an intake capacity of 50 students per centre. “The total investment for training works out to Rs 5,000-6,000 per person, with classroom teaching of five days and two days’ internship at a retail outlet,” informed Vedamani. Rai is also in advanced talks with the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments. According to FICCI, organised retail will generate 10 lakh new jobs at the front end and 3 lakh for back end operations. “There is an immediate requirement of around 1 lakh trained front-end staff, 20,000-25,000 supervisory staff and 20,000 back-end operations staff,” said Indian Retail School (IRS)-Delhi dean Alok Mukherjee. Lifestyle Retail has appointed IRS for the hiring and training of 150 personnel for its Jaipur operations. Agrees Technopak vice-president (retail & consumer goods) Asitava Sen: “Finding CEOs for retail ventures of companies is becoming difficult, leading to poaching in the industry. Thirty per cent of the CEOs are coming from overseas — Indian expats from South-East Asia, West Asia and Eastern Europe — as their markets are similar to the Indian markets. It’s a situation of reverse brain drain.” “Manpower is one of the biggest continuous challenge in our business and it cuts across all levels,” said Adidas India MD Andreas Gellener. Salaries in India have appreciated, which makes hiring of foreigners for top level positions an attractive and reasonable option, he added. To cater to the burgeoning demand, retailers will have to invest in retail education, added Sen.Acute shortage• Retailers Association of India trains youth registered with Maharashtra Employment Exchange• 93% trainees employed in retail sector itself• Immediate manpower requirement of 1 lakh at front-end , 20,000 at back end, 20,000-25,000 per cent at supervisory level• 30% retail industry CEOs are Indian expats from South-East Asia, West Asia and Eastern Europe
