London, Nov 13 (IANS): Indian IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will train at least 1,000 British university graduates at its innovation labs and software development centres across the country to bridge digital skills gap.

"In partnership with the British Council Generation Britain-India programme, we will create opportunities for British students through training and working at our labs and centres in the country," the software major said in a statement here on Friday.

The company made the announcement in London during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day official visit to Britain since Thursday.

With employment opportunities in the British IT sector set to grow twice the country's average job rate between 2015 and 2020, the Social Market Foundation has predicted that Britain would face a shortfall of about 40,000 graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics per year.

"The partnership aims to address the challenge by helping the next generation of digital talent in Britain and provide its employers with graduates they will need to succeed in the future," TCS chief executive N. Chandrasekaran said.

Noting that the new partnership marked a new phase in the relations between the two countries, British Council chief executive Ciaran Devane said the TCS initiative would benefit at least 1,000 graduates and gain experience working at its facilities.

"India is emerging as a global superpower and initiatives such as this will enable the next generations in both countries to engage, learn and grow with each other," Devane said on the occasion.

As a partner to many large British businesses, the IT outsourcing major wants them to tap new opportunities in digital technologies.

"As our customers are unable to do this faster due to lack of training in new technologies, the British talent pool needs knowledge and training in them. Our initiative will help address the skills shortage and give employers access to expertise to compete in the digital economy," Chandrasekharan asserted.

The 1,000 internships will take place from 2016 and 2020 and will be jointly managed daily by TCS and British Council. Each internship will give the graduates an opportunity to work in India and learn skills for career in software development, global consulting, business process management or human resources.

As one of the biggest employers in Britain with 11,000 British techies in 30 locations across the country, TCS is one the biggest digital players.