Prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday unveiled the government’s job board called National Career Service (NCS) portal. Though it is a government portal, it will benefit small companies, unorganised sector and all those who cannot afford services of a recruitment agency.

The skill development and entrepreneurship ministry and the ministry of small and medium enterprises will be key partners of this initiative. The labour ministry has earmarked an investment of over Rs.100 crore and the portal aspires to be a one-stop shop solution for job seekers and job providers. It aspires to bring 900,000 establishments and companies on the portal.

According to official data, more than 44.7 million job seekers are registered with India’s 956 employment exchanges. Of them, at least 26.88 million are men and women below the age of 29.

The NCS will offer registration for job aspirants and employers for free. However, the job seeker will have link their Aadhar number or three other identification numbers during registration. This is for authentication purpose and to avoid malpractices. In the same manner, companies and organizations will also submit their society registrations or company registration certificate copies to use the services of the job portal.

All central government ministries and departments and state-run enterprises will be persuaded to post their job vacancies through it. Most importantly, private companies will be encouraged to post jobs on the portal. This facility will help small companies to use the vast database being created by the portal.

The job board will offer facilities like job posting, career counselling, aptitude assessment, job matching, skill courses, training providers and guidance on self-employment and entrepreneurship.  The login process is simple and it provides a manual for the candidates.

A labour ministry official said three key government initiatives—Make in India, Digital India and Skill India—can help this job board draw job seekers and employers.