Pune: ICICI Academy for Skills (ICICI Academy) today announced the launch of a centre in Pune to provide vocational training to the youth from the economically weaker sections to help them earn a sustainable livelihood.

The centre will offer courses in three disciplines – selling skills, office administration and web designing – for graduates. ICICI Academy has formalised the content of the courses for office administration and web designing in consultation with best-in-class knowledge partners namely, Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd and NIIT Ltd, respectively. The Bank will use in-house expertise to impart the training on selling skills. Together with the partners, ICICI Academy aims to provide world class content and training.

ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation) started the ICICI Academy in line with its plan to promote inclusive growth. ICICI Academy aims to train 5,000 youth at nine training centres across the country in the first year of operation. It aims to train 15,000 youth across the country by the year 2016.

Announcing the launch, Anup Bagchi, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities Ltd. said: “The ICICI Group has a long standing tradition of contributing to the development of the nation, through its business and CSR initiatives. We have launched the ICICI Academy with an aim to empower today’s youth with the required skills to earn a sustainable livelihood and participate in the emerging economic opportunities in the country. Through this initiative, we are working towards realising the immense potential that lies in India’s demographic dividend.”

Over the past five years, the ICICI Group and ICICI Foundation’s CSR philosophy has been focusing on four key areas namely elementary education, primary healthcare, skill development for sustainable livelihoods and financial inclusion, enabling people to participate in the economic opportunities arising in India. These initiatives have impacted the lives of more than 10 million people across the country.

After launching its maiden centre in Jaipur last month, ICICI Academy is setting up centres Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad this week. It has also firmed up plans for centres in Sangli, Coimbatore, Patna and Guwahati.

In addition to offering training free of cost, ICICI Academy will provide uniforms, meals and all relevant course material to the students. Each centre will also have a library for the students to use.

The key highlights of ICICI Academy are:

Total six courses on offer: Selling skills, office administration and web design for graduates; Electrical & home appliance repair, refrigeration & air conditioning repair and motor & pump repair for class X pass-outs.

The duration of the courses is about 8 – 12 weeks.

ICICI Foundation has tied up with several partners for generating the content of these courses. The partners are: Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd. for office administration, Blue Star Ltd. for refrigeration & air-conditioning, NIIT Ltd. for web designing, Crompton Greaves for pumps & motor repair and Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd. for electrical & home appliance repair.

ICICI Foundation will create an online job portal where the trained youth can register themselves. The portal will be promoted among potential employers.