Taking forward its commitment to the cause of improving the lives of construction workers, PNB Housing Finance has signed an MoU with CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India) to train 8,000 construction workers, pan India. The announcement was made at the Investiture Ceremony of the CREDAI Executive 2017-19 under the leadership of Jaxay Shah in Ahmedabad. The announcement witnessed the presence of Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation & Information and Broadcasting and Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister, Gujarat. The training program is being supported by PNB Housing under its CSR initiative aimed at providing skills training to construction workers across India. The skills training is provided in the trade of masonry, bar bending, shuttering and electrical fields. The programme aims to upgrade skills of the construction workers to meet global benchmarks, which in return will increase the productivity of the workforce. Speaking at the inauguration, Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director, PNB Housing Finance said, “India is among one of the world’s biggest construction markets. The last decade has seen the real estate sector bloom. We are extremely focused on improving lives of the construction workers and their families who form the core stakeholder group for us and contribute a good deal towards overall industry growth. Through our CSR initiatives, we are continuously working towards upgrading their skills, providing them with necessary training and creating a conducive working environment for them. The collaboration with CREDAI is one more such step towards our continued efforts aimed at their overall upliftment and empowerment across India.” As of December 31, 2017, PNB Housing Finance Limited, in partnership with CREDAI, has supported the training and assessment of 4,500 construction workers and is committed to train more construction workers in fiscal 2018.