CII to work on Common Minimum Economic  Agenda with Political Parties in AP

Hyderabad: "Skills, employability and manpower development would be the key development agenda of  Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region, which is planning to provide pre-employment training to 50,000 school drop-outs across the region in 2008-09," said Dr B V R Mohan Reddy, Chairman, CII - Southern Region.

He added that in Andhra Pradesh alone, CII would train 5000 youth under its Grassroots Level Skill Development Initiatives. It would upgrade 24 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Andhra Pradesh into Centers of Excellence.

Presenting the key priorities for CII in 2008-09, in a press conference here today, Dr Reddy said that Grassroots Level Skill Development Initiatives are imperative to meet India's growing need for skilled manpower requirement, which is currently estimated to be 10 million per annum. To enhance skills and employability, CII would adopt and upgrade 50 ITIs  in 2008-09, in addition to about 43 ITIs that have been already adopted by CII in the previous year through Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. CII-SR is also developing business operation manual, a 'Blue Book' for ITIs-IMCs that would aim at sustaining the ITIs.

Dr Reddy said that some of the other long-term initiatives of CII-Southern Region would include: developing synergistic linkages amongst manufacturing and engineering services industry, mechanisation of farm practices to enhance farm productivity and promoting Rural Business Hub through farmer - industry partnerships.  Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), enhancing the competitiveness of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and international business promotion activities are some of the key long-term initiatives of CII, said Dr Reddy.

CII would facilitate building inclusive cities through PPP models. It would also focus on developing Mysore-Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Corridor on the lines of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor,  said Dr Reddy.

CII would launch six new SME Clusters in Visakhapatnam, Trichy, Bangalore, Chennai, Hosur and Kochi during the current year.  As regards, short and medium term policy related issues are concerned, CII's focus would remain on bringing power reforms in Southern States and consolidation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) by 2010.

CII would also provide modular employment training to 10000 rural youth across the region in 11 sectors such as; Automotive repair, Electricals, Hospitality, Air conditioning, Light engineering, Construction, Wellness, Retail, etc through skills training institutes.

Addressing about the Common Minimum Agenda for Andhra Pradesh, Dr Reddy said that CII is working in tune with the Andhra Pradesh Vision 2025 that aims at ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth with thrust on universal education, large scale employment generation, world class infrastructure, good governance besides enrichment of cultural traditions and values.  CII Andhra Pradesh is also proposing to commission a Common Minimum Economic Agenda for Political parties on Andhra Pradesh Vision 2025.

To ensure a balanced regional development, CII would focus on developing Zones such as; Vizag, Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati and Rajamundry, besides promoting tier II & tier III towns in the State, said Dr Reddy. A Study on the Industrial Potential of Adilabad, Medak, Nizamabad Districts would also be undertaken this year, he said.  "CII would be soon opening an Office in Vizag", said Dr Reddy.

CII-AP would promote 100 entrepreneurs under PPP mode and work with schools on quality improvement said Mr Utpal Sen Gupta, Chairman,  CII - Andhra Pradesh.

Mr Sen Gupta said that CII would work with Andhra Pradesh Government to bring out a Disaster Management Policy for the State. It would also commission a Study on promoting Tourism Cluster in Vijayawada and would create a blueprint for Vizag as a tourism destination. CII would also setup  a Steel Task Force to drive Steel Cluster in Vizag, he further said. CII would create a Vision 2025 for Agri & Food Processing Sectors in Andhra Pradesh, said Mr Sen Gupta.

Mr C R Swaminathan, Deputy Chairman, CII - Southern Region also spoke at the Press Conference.