Davos: India today said it is working on a framework to provide incentives to domestic as well as foreign companies for setting up vocational centers to train youth for jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is here for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, said creation of jobs is a major challenge in the 21st century.

"India has established a strong place in manufacturing space but we still have a long way to catch up with countries like Germany and others.

"We are working on incentivizing the manufacturers, whether Indian or foreign, for setting up vocational training centers. We are doubling the state investment in R&D. We do need reforms but right education and creation of jobs is a must too," he said.

He said that boosting manufacturing sector is the main option available to create additional jobs in the country.

"Today what we are hearing everywhere after five years of slowdown is how to create jobs and manufacturing is the answer to that," Sharma said.

"The major challenge in 21st century will be how to create jobs", the Minister said.

He said that India has embarked on vocational training initiatives.

"There are some areas of manufacturing that may not need higher education and there we are working on vocational modules along with the school education. At the same time training is required for high-end technology and research and for that we are working on creating larger number of highly qualified skilled professionals," he added.

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The Minister said job creation is a necessity as it has a social cost.

"We will have millions of youth joining the workforce in coming years and we need to give them right training and education to get them the right jobs," he said.

He urged the industrialists to train more and more people and create job opportunities.

India has announced a national manufacturing policy which aims at creating 100 million jobs in the next one decade besides increasing the share of manufacturing sector in the country's economic growth from 16 percent at present to 25-26 percent by 2025.

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