The Punjab Skill Development Mission (PSDM) has signed two memoranda of understanding to train youth for high-demand jobs in the automotive, footwear and fashion sectors, in a ceremony held in Chandigarh on Monday.
The first MoU is between PSDM and the State Institute of Automotive and Driving Skills (SIADS), Mahuana, covering vocational training for the automotive and driving trades. The second is a tripartite agreement between PSDM, the Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT), the state Industries and Commerce Department and the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, for footwear and fashion manufacturing roles.
The MoUs were signed by PSDM Director Amrit Singh. The partnerships are structured around National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned programmes, placements, apprenticeships and entrepreneurship support, with a focus on bridging the skill gap and improving employability of Punjab’s youth.
Under the tripartite arrangement, training will be delivered in four specialised footwear roles: Footwear Upper Stitching Technician, Sports Footwear Assembly Technician, Footwear CAD/CAM Operator and Footwear Pattern Cutter. The collaboration draws on FDDI’s position as a central institute of national importance in the footwear sector and NIIFT’s domain expertise in apparel and fashion.
Punjab Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Minister Aman Arora said the agreements target high-growth sectors. “These collaborations mark a new chapter in Punjab’s skill development landscape. By aligning our training programmes with the specific needs of high-growth sectors like automotive and footwear, we are not just creating job seekers, but building a future-ready workforce,” Arora said.
Arora added that integrating national-level institutes such as FDDI and NIIFT with state machinery would give trainees “world-class training, directly translating into better career prospects” and feed into Punjab’s industrial growth. Amrit Singh said the collaborations would also create pathways for entrepreneurship, not only wage employment.
The new pacts extend an earlier June 2026 MoU between Punjab’s Industries and Commerce Department and FDDI, which had focused on testing infrastructure, skilling and design support for the state’s footwear, leather and sports goods clusters. Punjab’s unemployment rate stood at 6.7% in the latest annual PLFS report, higher than the national average.
