The booming economy of India will need over 6,00,000 trained manpower in banking sector and 3,00,000 in insurance sector over a period of five years, feel experts. To cater to the needs of these sectors, leading IT training institute NIIT has now decided to churn out bankers and financial executives by giving proper training to under-graduates and working professionals, a top official of the company said here on Thursday.

A new virtual training programme for working executives in collaboration with IIMs would also be offered in Ahmedabad soon. All these programmes have elicited good response in metros. Ahmedabad would be the first city in Gujarat to avail of the unique opportunity. NIIT Imperia had inked its academic partnership with IIM-A in 2006 and have been operating its NIIT Imperia studio from the later’s campus, said president (strategic initiative) NIIT Smarajit Dey.

The company has set up the NIIT Institute of Finance Banking and Insurance (IFBI) here. It would offer a six month PG course — three months of class-room teaching and three months of practical training sessions with stipend—- by the same name under a tie-up with ICICI Bank. The programme would be imparted by industry professionals. Immediately after completing the course, a candidate will be absorbed by ICICI and HDFC banks. ICICI had already recruited about 2,000 pass-outs from the metros in the last one year, Dey added.

The company’s second offering, the NIIT Imperia Centre for Advanced Learning, is meant for working executives who seek to have that extra edge to climb the corporate ladder fast. The course model has been designed in collaboration with IIM Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Indore and Institute of Management and Technology, Ghaziabad.

Teaching would be through a ‘synchronous learning technology platform,’ enabling both the learners and the teachers interact and see each other from their respective places. “If India has to sustain its nine per cent growth rate, productivity of middle-level managers and executives has to be raised dramatically by opting for such programmes,’’ Dey asserted. Several sector specific subjects would be offered under this initiative, ranging from four to 12 months.

For both the programmes, the certificates would be awarded by the respective organisations with which NIIT has tied-up. And for each of these programmes, aspiring candidates would have to pass through a screening test.