“Attracting investments by leveraging sectoral competencies of the Northern Region, with special focus on positive governance, better infrastructure & skill development, are the keys to revive and accelerate economic growth to the desired 8 – 9% levels”, highlighted Mr Jayant Davar, newly elected Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Northern Region, while addressing his maiden Press Conference at CII’s NR Headquarters in Chandigarh today.
“Revival of Economic growth, in turn, would provide employment avenues to millions, leading to accomplishment of our overall goal of attaining long term inclusivity, sustainable growth & social development for the states, the region and the country as a whole”, Mr Davar further emphasised.
“To achieve this objective, a holistic approach on the part of Government, Industry, Institutions, Civil Society, Media and Citizens is needed, wherein each has to continually play its role earnestly both in present and future. Hence, CII NR has adopted ‘Reviving Growth in North….. Present & Future’ as its theme for the year 2013-14”, informed Mr Davar.
“CII’s focus in North for 2013-14 would primarily be on 6 areas namely - strengthening Positive Governance, enhancing MSME‘s Competitiveness, creating North as a Manufacturing Hub, ensuring Sustainable Development and achieving Inclusivity through Skill Development, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Affirmative Action for the benefit of SC & STs”, Mr Davar further pointed.
“Manufacturing and MSMEs are the most critical contributors & vehicles for economic development, job creation and inclusive growth and north has tremendous potential to become the Manufacturing Hub of India. We just need to brand it as a preferred investment destination for Manufacturing. For this, CII has planned 2nd Invest North in August 2013 at Delhi. MSMEs constitute about 70% of CII’s membership. In India, 2.61 MSME units contribute 45% to our manufacturing output, 40% to India’s exports and employ 60 million people nationwide. We need to handhold MSMEs and provide them expert advice and guidance on aspects like finance, credit, taxation, government schemes and marketing support, CII is launching a dedicated MSME Help Desk comprising a team of professionals at CII Chandigarh headquarters”, shared Mr Davar.
“CII believes that cluster approach benefits the MSMEs majorly. Keeping this in mind, 4 new Manufacturing clusters – 2 at Ludhiana, 1 each at Jaipur and Haridwar are being formed in this region to enhance MSMEs competitiveness and focus on adoption of automation and latest technologies. Our 9 ongoing Clusters are already benefitting 61 companies”, he further added.
The Chairman went on to list some proposals for MSMEs, for which CII would actively engage with the central and state governments & agencies like “Purchase & Price Preference Policy for MSMEs, implementation of MSMED Act in totality, Re-defining the ceiling of Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises to enhance their competitiveness.
The landlocked nature of North has to a greater extent impacted trade and investment in the region. CII believes that Manufacturing has a great potential in the region which can be leveraged through speedy implementation of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), National Manufacturing & Investment Zones (NMIZs) and DMIC, setting up chain of Dry Docks in the region and pushing for private sector’s role in Infra projects etc”.
Elaborating further on how we can attract investments and revive economic growth, he added that “North needs to leverage its unique sectoral competencies in terms of fine entrepreneurial spirit, skilled workforce, large consumer, agricultural & raw materials base, excellent infrastructure and vast natural resources to open new vistas for investments in the sectors like textiles, auto & auto components, sugar, renewable energy, food & fruit processing, cement, leather, tourism, light engineering. In this context, we will work with the concerned stakeholders to leverage these competitive advantages. In addition, CII is constituting a Hill Development Council, a platform for hill states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand to address their common and unique issues like gaps in infrastructure; lack of connectivity; problems of raw materials availability; limited access to markets, growth of non pollution & eco friendly industries, light manufacturing, power generation and tourism sectors etc”.
“Strong Policy Advocacy will continue to remain the cornerstone of our work. To attain Positive Governance, CII would work with states to strengthen Single Window Clearance agencies and their IT enablement to improve Ease of Doing Business and promote e-governance in the states. CII would also continue to work with States for speedy reforms in GST, APMC, Land Leasing Act, Land and Power Distribution etc. Our action plan will be effective implementation of policies necessary to encourage investment and trade in the region. CII NR will also work for streamlining the policies and integrating the objectives of the centre with the states. We will create a platform to strengthen Public Private Dialogue & Partnerships, connect with civil society and NGOs”, he elaborated.
“Skill development & education have remained a thrust area for the Confederation, said Mr D L Sharma, Chairman, CII Punjab State Council. “We have set up a training centre in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, in which, till date, 349 candidates have been enrolled, 238 of them trained till now and 107 have successfully been placed in the industry. We would continue to monitor the 134 ITIs, adopted by CII NR members under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. In 2013, we would initiate Skill Gap Studies with HP and J&K. To enhance university-industry partnership, the CII would work closely with universities on the curriculum, faculty development, lectures by global leaders and R&D Projects”, Mr Sharma further iterated.
“Affirmative Action (AA) for SC/STs, would continue to feature largely in CII plans. The Confederation will continue its commitment to the 4 Es – Education, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Employment, providing skills training, mentoring and scholarship support to SC/ST youth. CII has partnered with National Confederation of Dalit Organizations (NACDOR) to provide Equal Opportunity Job Portal for SCs/STs - http://thefairjob.com. CII has been working actively with the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) to engage with Dalit entrepreneurs to enhance supplier diversity”, - Mr Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII NR mentioned.
“As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, CII would work towards women empowerment and create a platform to connect NGOs, civil society and the industry. The Social Expo, providing market opportunities to artisans and craftsmen, would remain a regular feature of CII’s B2C Fairs as also Ability, job fair that places the differently abled to mainstream corporate jobs,’’ informed Mr Singh.
“CII would actively promote sustainable agriculture practices, use of clean, green and renewable sources of energy and water audits by organising various awareness workshops and farmer outreach programmes. We would take up advocacy with the states to have their own renewable energy policies. The Confederation would also advocate for creation of Land Bank Development Corporation at the state level, and suggest roadmaps to ease Doing Business in NR states”, highlighted Mr Man Mohan Singh, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council.
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