Maruti Suzuki will set up a first-of-its-kind Industrial Training Institute in Mehsana, Gujarat.

Called "Japan-India Institute of Manufacturing" (JIM), it will go on stream in August 2017 and eventually train 300 youths per year in technical trades and Japanese shopfloor practices.The JIM will mark the start of a collaboration between the Governments of Japan and India to create a pool of skilled manpower for manufacturing in India.

This follows from a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed in Tokyo on November 11th 2016 between Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Government of Japan (METI) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India (MSDE), for a "Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Programme" to train 30,000 youths in India over 10 years.

The JIM will be run and managed by Maruti Suzuki India Limited as a corporate social responsibility initiative. In addition to the technical curriculum, the JIM will impart training in the best shopfloor practices such as Kaizen and Quality Circles, based on curricula developed in Japan. Maruti Suzuki has committed an initial investment of Rs. 3.2 crore towards setting up the JIM.

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