Indian Government Launches SWADES Portal to Help Citizens Returning to India Find Job Opportunities

To help the skilled workforce returning to India find new job opportunities from Indian and foreign companies, the Government of India has launched a new initiative SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) to conduct a skill mapping exercise of the returning citizens under the Vande Bharat Mission.

This is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of External Affairs which aims to create a database of qualified citizens based on their skillsets and experience to tap into and fulfill the demand of Indian and foreign companies.

Citizens returning to India would be required to fill up a Skill Card form full name, passport number, contact number (both Indian and overseas), work sector, work experience, and so on. The collected information will be shared with the companies for suitable placement opportunities in the country. A toll-free call centre facility has also been set up to support the citizens for any queries related to filling the form.

The card will facilitate a strategic framework to provide the returning citizens with suitable employment opportunities through discussions with key stakeholders including State Governments, Industry Associations and Employers. MSDE’s implementation arm National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is supporting the implementation of the project.

The SWADES Skill Form, which was made available on 30 May 2020 and has already received about 7000 registrations. The Indian Government says that based on the data gathered from the website, Indian citizens were returning from UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. These citizens, as per the skill mapping, were employed in sectors such as oil and gas, construction, tourism and hospitality, automotive and aviation. The data also suggests that the Indian states which have shown the highest returning labor are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana.

Those interested to register with the website, can visit the official SWADES portal and fill the required details.