Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative (FICSI)—widely known as Food Processing Sector Skill Council—is a Not-for-Profit Organization, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and working under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The organization is Promoted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with financial support from National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). FICSI has been granted the status of Awarding Body by NCVET. FICSI has been set up as an autonomous industry-led body by NSDC. It creates Occupational Standards and Qualification Packs, Develops Training Materials and Tools, Conducts Train the Trainer Programs, Conducts Skill Gap Studies, and Assess and Certify trainees on the curriculum aligned to National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF). As a skill council, we accredit potential training providers having training infrastructure as per our guidelines for the dissemination of training on our Qualification Packs. We are engaged in various skill development initiatives of central/state Government & Ministries such as PMKVY, GKRA, DDUGKY, ASAP, NULM, PMFME, and B.Voc either as a project implementation agency or as an assessment agency.

OUR MISSION

To ensure that the Food Processing industry can grow with skilled manpower, and increase productivity and profitability.

Aiming at generating a critical mass of industry-employable-skilled-persons to meet the skill gap in the Food Processing industry, FICSI inter-alia is mandated to:

• Identification of skill development needs including preparing a catalog of types of skills, range, and depth of skills to facilitate individuals to choose from them.
• Development of a sectoral skill development plan and maintaining skill inventory.
• Determining skills/competency standards and qualifications and getting them notified as per NSQF.
• Standardization of affiliation, accreditation, examination, and certification process in accordance with NSQF as determined by NSQC. May also conduct skill-based assessment and certification for QP /NOS aligned training programs.
• Participation in the setting up of affiliation, accreditation, examination, and certification norms.
• Plan and facilitate the execution of Training of Trainers.
• Promotion of academies of excellence.
• Lay special emphasis on the skilling needs of ST/SC, differently-abled, and minority population
• Ensure that the persons trained and skilled in accordance with the norms laid down are assured of employment at decent wages

OUR VISION

“Creating a robust and vibrant eco-system for quality education and skill development in the Food Processing Sector in the country”.

OUR VALUES

• INTEGRITY: The SSC is an independent industry-led unit that sincerely dedicates itself to continuous skill development and skill up-gradation in the Food Processing Sector.
• PASSION: Each member of the organization is passionate towards achieving the best outcomes in the Training & Development of a huge number of youths
• COMMITMENT:The org. is committed to implementing and executing best skill development programs for the benefit of Food Processing
• QUALITY: The org. deliverable is as per industry-driven quality standards and demands.

• We develop qualification packs and learning resources such as model curriculum, training delivery plan, participant handbook, practical guide, and trainer’s guide as per National Skill Quality Framework. The learning resources are available in simple, lucid, and regional languages in physical form. Also, FICSI has developed a Learning Management System which hosts all the e-learning materials developed by FICSI
• FICSI has 120 Training Partners/Centers accredited on the Skill India Portal of NSDC. These Training Partners/Centers are affiliated and implement the training program on the ground as per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
• Assessment of trained candidates is undertaken by FICSI and successful candidates are provided a skill certificate under the Skill India program. It has 7 Assessing Bodies affiliated with it and 900+ assessors are certified by FICSI. We have also developed an online AI enable assessment engine which is capable of handling more than 10,000 assessments at a time
• For effective execution of the programs FICSI also undertakes Training of Trainers and their certification who provides the training to beneficiaries. FICSI has 719 Trainers who conduct regular training of beneficiaries. These Trainers are experts from the food processing industry who provide formal Training and are certified by FICSI
• FICSI facilitates NAPs (National Apprenticeship Program) and started its Job portal exclusively for trainees certified in Food Processing
• Skilling Program for Food Handlers: FICSI has taken up projects across India to implement the Recognition under Prior Learning Program for 85,000 Food Handlers in Bihar, Jammu, and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Amongst those 45,000 food handlers were also trained in FSSAI-FoSTaC training and certified as Food Safety Supervisors. FICSI has facilitated the training of over 100 certified Trainers in various FoSTaC courses through its affiliated training providers
• Recognition Prior Learning Program with Marine Products Export Development Authority: Training and certification of 6,000 fish and seafood processing technicians under RPL mode in coastal areas
• Adarsh Gram Skill Camp Project: Training and Certification of 3,000 food handlers in 25 Adarsh Gram as part of World Bank-funded projects of the SANKALP Program of MSDE
• Skill Training of Women under Maharashtra State Skill Development Society: short term training of 630 candidates (preferably women) in food processing job roles with the objectives of women empowerment and livelihood opportunities
• Uttarakhand WorkForce Development Project (UKWDP): A target allocated of 5000 candidates has been received for the food processing sector for placement linked skill training.
• Skill training Program with different State Skill Missions: Projects including fresh skilling and RPL for food handlers are going on across the Nation.

Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative (FICSI)-widely known as Food Processing Sector Skill Council-is a Not-for-Profit Organization, registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The organization is promoted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and its line ministry-the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI). FICSI is an industry-led autonomous body mandated to create skilled manpower for Food Processing Industries and to establish and promote food processing-related knowledge and improve the skills of the food handlers/workers in the Food Processing sector. FICSI is also registered under NCVET as an Awarding Agency.

Skill Development project under CSR :As per Point No. (ii) under schedule VII of Companies Act, 2013-“Promoting education, including special education and employment enhancing vocational skills, especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently-abled and livelihood enhancement projects are covered under CSR activities.

National Policy on Skilling and provisions for CSR through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs): As per Clause 6.13 of “Governance Structure And Financing” under National Policy for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 2015 “To attract funds from industry, companies will be encouraged to spend at least 25% of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds on skill development initiatives directly or through NSDF. Further, the industry should earmark at least 2% of its payroll bill (including for contract labor) for skill development initiatives in their respective sectors. These funds can be channelized for skill development activities either through respective SSCs or through NSDF”.

 Corporates shall consider including skilling in Food Processing as part of their CSR initiatives. The Sector Skill Council (FICSI) can help the organizations conceptualize the projects, and provide them the quality inputs for the successful execution of those projects including training of trainers, model curriculum, learning resources, assessment and certification services within the National Skill Qualification framework. As mentioned above, food processing activities can help the targeted groups to get greater benefits. Further discussion can be initiated about the scope including but not limited to:

• Women Empowerment Projects,
• Livelihood Projects”,
• Entrepreneurship Development
• Clean Safe Food Hubs”
• Skilling of Food Handlers” etc.