'54% of our youth are below 25, but only 4% are skilled'

Dr.Sureshkumar Madhusudanan, 57, is the secretarygeneral of the Indo-Gulf & Middle East Chamber of Commerce and ex-president of the Indian Personnel Export Promotion Council.

- Dr Sureshkumar Madhusudanan

A successful businessman in the field of manpower export and deployment, he has initiated a campaign to improve the technical skills of Indian youth so that they are able to meet the changing requirements of industries in India and abroad. S Balakrishnan spoke to him over the weekend on skilling and other issues. Excerpts:

Q. You are laying a lot of emphasis on issues related to skilling of our labour. What is the reason for this?

A. The Modi government has been rightly calling for improving the skills of our labour. The global demand is for skilled labour. We are facing a huge shortage of skilled staff. Also the salaries of Indian labour employed in the Gulf and the Middle East is not increasing because of lack of adequate skills. Because of foreign exchange fluctuations Indian labour is earning more now than before. But in real terms there has not been much of an increase in their salaries.

Also, competition from Bangladesh and other countries is intensifying.