CII-SR to work with States for Vibrant South: Vikram Kirloskar

The Confederation of Indian Industry Southern Region (CII-SR) will work with State governments for the development of industrial corridors and push structural reforms on labour, land and agriculture to accelerate the growth of the region and to create an industrially vibrant South. It will work with these State Governments to implement the priority projects by settingup `CII-State Government Joint Consultative Forums’ in all the Southern States on the lines of the one in Kerala, the newly- elected Chairman of CII Southern Region, Vikram Kirloskar, said in Chennai.

`Vibrant South – Competitiveness, Inclusiveness and Governance’ is the CII theme for the Southern Region for 2017-18. Acting on the theme, CII will focus on key enablers such as job creation, skill development and training, affirmative action, women parity, new models of development, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, governance, and transparency, he said.

Outlining CII-SR’s priorities for 2017-18, Kirloskar said that with a nominal GDP of $ 803 billion, the southern region accounted for over 30% of India’s GDP. The region has immense growth potential in sectors like automotives, IT/ITES, healthcare, biotechnology and textiles. In order to keep up the growth momentum, CII will work with the State Governments on specific areas such as industrial corridors, structural reforms, unlocking major infrastructure projects stuck with the State governments, and launch CII-SR Water Alliance for the restoration of lakes and ponds in South India.

Kirloskar also announced CII-SR’s five-point agenda of membership engagement, MSME engagement, education and skill development, ease of doing business, and entrepreneurship and start-ups. It has identified the issues and gaps that need to be addressed to meet the requirements of industry for a skilled workforce and would continue to advocate for amendments in the Apprenticeship Act. CII will focus on State skill policy, model career centres, skill gap study, faculty development programmes with industry exposure, industry– institute connect, job fairs and skill development for specially-abled.

In order to promote entrepreneurship, CII would focus on start-up policies, special incentives in manufacturing sector, mentorship of SC and ST entrepreneurs. It will set up startupreneurs forum, engagement of next-gen leaders and recognize young business leaders by presenting prestigious `Emerging Entrepreneurs Awards’, Kirloskar said.