New Delhi, April 17 (IANS): India has to bridge the gap in skilling its youth to enable the economy grow in double digits, Vice-President Hamid Ansari said on Friday.

"We have to focus on closing the gap of skilling the youth to attain a double digit growth in the coming years," Ansari said at a conference on 'Skilling India for Global Competitiveness', organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

Calling for new policy initiatives to impart a new set of skills to the work force, Ansari said though a national skilling agenda was in place, it had to be tweaked for inducting right skills.

"When global integration is becoming faster, skills would play a critical role. We need a proactive approach for pursuing skills to make up for the lost time, as we have been only talking about skilling the work force," he said in the valedictory address.

Advocating a multi-pronged strategy to impart skills through institutional mechanism, the vice-president said innovation, research and investments were required to implement the skilling agenda.

Unveiling the apex body's initiatives to promote and diversify skills, chamber president Alok B. Shriram said right skilling would serve urban and rural India economically and socially.