CII to focus on boosting GDP in south

PUDUCHERRY: Unveiling the CII-Southern region for 2011-12, its chairman T T Ashok has said that Southern states need to adopt a proactive industrial policy to enhance the industrial growth and thereby boost the GDP growth that has fallen below the national average.According to a recent survey by the CII, the GDP  growth rate of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh stood at 13.9 per cent, below the national average of 15 per cent, while Kerala is marginally lower at 14.6 per cent and Karnataka stood at 15 per cent. Gujarat, Haryana and Bihar were the leaders at 17.8 per cent, 17.5 per cent and 16.1 per cent respectively. The survey was for the period 2005-2010.Creating huge physical infrastructure, managing talent availability, time management in policy making and implementation and building the capacity in the industry to move up in the value chain are some of the challenges that needs to be addressed in order to sustain South India’s growth momentum, he said.Industry and respective State governments should adopt a cluster-based growth approach, bridge physical and social infrastructure gaps, and work towards environmental sustainability to ensure that the region’s rich potential is well capitalised, he added.Ashok said that CII Southern Region has adopted the theme — South India 2020 — accelerate inclusive growth &  sustainable development. The key focus areas of CII Southern Region in the current year would be on manufacturing, agriculture, MSME development, infrastructure, education and skill development, IT and ITES, healthcare, human resource, entrepreneurship and innovation, inclusive development and sustainability. The implementation of the theme would be broadly based on four pillars — CII-S (Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Inclusiveness and Sustainability), he said.The key areas would be in increasing physical infrastructure (power, roads, ports, logistics and housing), which in recent years has not kept pace with demand. Managing talent and its availability — the primary worry across manufacturing and service sectors pertains to availability and skill levels of labour. Further strengthening policy-making and implementation to bridge two key areas of concern: time-consuming business processes and slow implementation of policies and projects in addition to building capability in industry to move up the value chain across sectors, from low-end services to higher levels of sophistication.The availability of physical infrastructure has not kept pace with demand in recent years, said Ashok. This includes power, roads, cargo handling capacity at ports, logistics infrastructure including cold chains, and housing. With per capita power consumption slated to grow from 900 KWh to 1,400 KWh, base demand for power in South India is likely to be around 50 GW, peaking to around 75 GW in 2020. Satisfying this incremental demand will require an investment of $ 50 billion to $ 70 billion, said Ashok.CII is closely working with State governments on reforms in the power sector with more focus on private sector participation. Opening up the regional power market; removal of transmission bottlenecks by allowing open access system; promotion of renewable energy — solar & wind power; move towards franchisee models in distribution (eg Maharashtra) and need for uniform tariff across country are some of the key CII recommendations to the government, said Ashok.The focus areas of CII on social infrastructure would primarily be on skills development, education and employability, entrepreneurship and affirmative action, he added. CII would set up regional centre of excellence for skills development and would facilitate in providing skills training to 12,000 SC/ST candidates. CII would also promote skill mission framework in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Other initiatives such as faculty training programme for ITI faculty members and education clusters would be initiated in Southern states. In the area of sustainability, CII would focus on environment management, agriculture, water management, energy efficient transportation and clean technology. Workshops and training programmes would be organised across the region in these areas.