Capacity Building for Service Providers - Skill Testing & Certification (CBSP-STC)

What is Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP)?

Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP) is a skilling scheme of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. According to Ministry of Tourism and Press Information Bureau material, CBSP conducts hospitality- and tourism-related short-term training courses through government and private institutes, covering programmes such as Hunar Se Rozgar Tak, entrepreneurship development, tourism awareness, and skill testing and certification of service providers.

The Skill Testing & Certification (STC) component is the part of CBSP that focuses on people who are already working in the sector but hold no formal qualification. It tests their existing competence and issues a recognised certificate, so that experience on the job is converted into a credential that employers can trust. This is a recognition-of-prior-learning style intervention rather than a fresh training course.

Key objectives

• Improve the skills and service quality of India's tourism and hospitality workforce.
• Formally certify existing service providers whose skills were never tested.
• Widen participation across urban, rural and tribal areas and support reskilling.

Who is eligible for CBSP Skill Testing & Certification?

You can benefit if:

• You are an existing tourism or hospitality service provider, for example a cook, housekeeping or front-office worker, guide or driver; seeking formal certification of skills you already have.
• You are a candidate looking to enter or upgrade in the sector through a CBSP short-term training course run by an empanelled institute.
• You meet the course-specific criteria (age or education) that the particular institute and course set, which vary by programme.

You cannot expect:

• A cash payment. CBSP is not a direct-benefit-transfer scheme, so no one is paid money for enrolling or being certified.
• To apply on a personal benefit portal. There is no individual online benefit application; participation is through empanelled institutes.
• Financial assistance in your own name, the Ministry's financial assistance goes to the empanelled institutes that deliver the programmes, not to individual candidates.

What documents are required?

Exact requirements depend on the course and the empanelled institute, so confirm with the institute before enrolling.

How to apply for CBSP training, testing and certification

CBSP is delivered through empanelled institutes rather than a personal benefit portal. For a worker or candidate, the route is:

1. Identify an empanelled government or private institute — for example an Institute of Hotel Management or a Food Craft Institute; running Ministry of Tourism CBSP courses or skill-testing drives in your area.
2. Contact the institute to check the available courses or the skill-testing and certification schedule for your trade.
3. Enrol with your identity proof and any experience or education documents the institute asks for.
4. Attend the training and/or skill test as scheduled by the institute.
5. On passing, collect your certificate, which formally recognises your skills for employers in the tourism and hospitality sector.

For an organisation, the route is different: institutes seek empanelment and financial assistance from the Ministry of Tourism's Skilling and HRD division to conduct these programmes.

What does CBSP provide?

CBSP provides funded skilling, short-term training and, under the STC component, testing and certification; delivered free or at subsidised cost to the candidate through empanelled institutes. The tangible benefit to an individual is a recognised skill certificate and better employability, not a cash amount. The Ministry's financial assistance flows to the institutes that run the courses and testing.

Help and contact

• CBSP is run by the Skilling and Human Resource Development division of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (tourism.gov.in).
• A dedicated CBSP candidate helpline is not published; prospective candidates should approach an empanelled institute, and institutions should contact the Ministry's Skilling & HRD division about empanelment and assistance.

Because CBSP works through institutes and carries no individual cash benefit, this guide is most useful as an explanation of how tourism workers can get their skills certified, rather than as a form-filling application.