Bharti Walmart to train 40,000 students for retail jobs

Bharti Walmart, a joint-venture (JV) between India-based Bharti Enterprises and retail major Walmart Stores, plans to train 40,000 students by 2016 for retail jobs.

DNA quoted Walmart India president Raj Jain as saying that this [initiative] will tackle scarcity of skilled manpower in the retail space.

The JV is already training candidates at three centers in Amritsar, Bangalore and New Delhi through a skills development firm Centum Learning and a public-private partnership with respective state governments.

"We plan to launch five more Bharti Walmart Training Centers (hubs) in places like Mumbai and 12 spoke centers in India by 2016," Jain said.

So far 9,500 students have been trained in tasks like customer service and frontline roles on retail floors. Jain said over 170 were placed at Easyday, and 350 at Best Price Modern Wholesale stores.

Bharti Retail, the Bharti Group's retail arm with 175 stores, and Bharti Walmart employ about 6,800 and 4,000 people, respectively. Together, they plan to employ over 50,000 retail professiosnals by 2016.

The 17-store JV will add over 15 cash-and-carry (Best Price Modern Wholesale) shops in the country this year.