Ola Cabs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Maharashtra government to create 10,000 job opportunities in the state.
The MoU falls in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Skill India’ initiative. A similar MoU has been signed between the Maharashtra government and Uber.
“We are proud to work with the government to train and provide the right skill set to thousands of men and women across Maharashtra and help them take their first step towards entrepreneurship,” said Sandeep Divakaran, Chief Financial Officer of Ola Fleet Technologies.
Ola has committed to provide skill development, vocational training and benefits such as insurance to 10,000 Ola driver partners within the next two years. They will work closely with the government in particular government training institutes, NGOs, and affiliated private institutes to provide the utilities and technological frameworks necessary to create skilled drivers.
In the long term, Ola has committed to train 50 lakh drivers by 2020 and will invest ₹100 crore into the project. Ola will tie up with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and RISE India, a non-profit organisation, for the empowerment of the socio-economically marginalized, to set up 500 driver training centers around the country.
Maharashtra has a goal of training 45 million people with employable skills by 2022 . The Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department (SDED) of the State government and the Skill India initiative have so far focused on startups as a source for job creation, but with this tie-up, the two add focus to increasing micro-entrepreneurship opportunities.
“This project will mobilize candidates from various sections of the society and has the potential to significantly improve livelihoods and contribute to the economic growth of the people of our country,” said Aseem Gupta from the SDED.