The National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) is an autonomous body, with functions, inter-alia, including, taking all possible steps to meet skilling targets as envisaged in the 12th Five Year Plan and beyond and coordinating and harmonizing the approach to skill development in the country. The Agency has undertaken a number of activities, inter-alia, including facilitating the operationalisation of National Skills Qualification Framework; setting up of a committee for rationalisation of Central Government Schemes on skill development; commencing work on creating and maintaining a national database relating to skill development including development of a dynamic labour market informational system and creating online education resources. NSDA is also engaging with States Skill Development Missions for enabling them to converge efforts across State Ministries and advising them to develop their plans for increasing vocational training capacity in the State.

NSDA is an agency that is mandated to coordinate the skilling effort of the Government of India (GOI). NSDA has informed that a target of skilling 73.42 lakh persons was set for the year 2013-14 by GOI Ministries and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and 49.16 lakh persons have been skilled till December, 2013.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Skill development coordination: NSDA aligns national frameworks, databases and state plans to expand vocational training capacity. Coordination of national skilling policy and implementation is led by the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), an autonomous body tasked with aligning and harmonising the Government's skilling efforts and facilitating achievement of national skilling targets. NSDA's functions include operationalising the National Skills Qualification Framework, rationalising central skill development schemes, creating and maintaining a national skills and labour market database, developing online education resources, advising on vocational training capacity expansion, and engaging State Skill Development Missions for convergence and planning.