Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), one of India’s leading FMCG companies, has announced the renewal of its MoU with the Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana, to upskill an additional 10,000 college students by 2023-24. Earlier, HCCB and the Govt of Telangana, together trained a total of 10196 students in the state to date in the first year of their partnership in 2022.

HCCB and the Govt. of Telangana announced the extension of this initiative in the presence of Mr. Ch Malla Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Labour and Employment, Factories, Skill Development, Govt of Telangana; Dr. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, IT, E&C; Mr. Shrikant Sinha, CEO, Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK); Mr. Himanshu Priyadarshi, Chief Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Officer, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, and Ms. Chitra Gupta, Head of HR – Supply Chain, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages and other dignitaries.

The program, also known as “Campus to Corporate” aims to upskill and make the college students industry ready. TASK works on creating batches of students, identifying locations for the physical classroom sessions, and the calendar for these training sessions. HCCB on the other hand works towards developing the content, identifying the trainers, conducting the Train the Trainers program (TTT) to create and expand a pool of expert trainers, and conducting the virtual and physical classroom sessions.

Reflecting on the significance of the MoU, Mr. Ch Malla Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Labour and Employment, Factories, Skill Development, Govt of Telangana, said,” We endeavor to create a synergy among institutions of Government, Industry & Academia to provide a pool of trained graduates for suitable roles in different corporates and I am happy to say that TASK is actively leading the way in preparing quality human resources in our state. I also congratulate Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages for partnering with us in our efforts to enable and empower the underserved youth to join the productive workforce. Strategic partners such as HCCB help us remain steadfast in our vision of “Innovation, Infrastructure, and Inclusive Growth” for Telangana.”

Dr. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, IT, E&C, said, “The joint initiative between HCCB & the Govt of Telangana has been exemplary so far. With its experience in managing Career Development Centres across the country, HCCB has been able to effectively contribute towards the Government of Telangana’s vision of skilling the youth of the state and making them more employable. I look forward to further spreading these programs to strengthen financial and digital literacy in the state.”

Referring to the association as a major landmark, Mr. Shrikant Sinha, CEO, of TASK, said, “It has been a great experience partnering with HCCB. Together we have been able to train more than 10,000 students in the first year of our partnership itself and we are looking forward to achieving similar results going forward. Sure enough, we will establish a benchmark for other organizations to join us in our journey of creating a skilled workforce in the state.”

Mr. Himanshu Priyadarshi, Chief Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Officer, at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, said, “It has been an honor and a privilege for us to partner with the state of Telangana in its growth story. The fact that we are setting up our second factory at a greenfield site in the state is a huge testament to the enabling environment created for ease of doing business in the state. We stand committed to continue to partner with the state in   its efforts to upskill the youth of Telangana in sync with the changing industry requirements.” 

As part of the initiative, HCCB and the Government of Telangana also give joint certification to the students that complete their training from the Career Development Centre (CDC) – skill development centres operated by HCCB in partnership with NIIT Foundation.

HCCB and the Government of Telangana will also involve manpower resourcing companies in further strengthening the curriculums that will be run at the Career Development Centres to help these manpower resourcing companies source talent directly from the Career Development Centres. This intervention will improve the rate of placements of the trained youth from the Career Development Centres. The 2 parties will also partner to further spread programs and curriculums that provide financial and digital literacy to the population strata that are yet to be enrolled in such programs in the state.

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