Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy unveiled a new policy for micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) for Telangana, which he said will give an impetus to its stated goal of making the state a one-trillion dollar economy. This, he averred, will help in boosting the nation’s endeavour to become a five-trillion dollar economy.Addressing a meeting at the Shilpakala Vedika, the Chief Minister said, “The Telangana government will use the China-plus-one policy being followed by the world in the post Covid world to its advantage. The government will spend Rs 2,400 crores in upgrading the 65 ITIs in partnership with the Tata Group. Of this, they will contribute Rs 2,100 crores as part of their corporate social responsibility. As part of this, their syllabus will be upgraded to make them industry-ready.”The Young India Skill University, the Chief Minister said, will give an impetus to skilling of the youth. He further stressed the need for skilling the one lakh engineering graduates who are entering the job market.Revanth Reddy said it is time that the number of those dependent on agriculture in a family comes down as the sector is not able to provide adequate income leading to their suicides.Crediting former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi for establishing public enterprises like BHEL, IDPL among others, the Chief Minister said, “Hyderabad became a hub for the pharma sector and companies from here went on to supply three vaccines to the world during covid. Governance is a continuous process and good policies introduced by previous governments will be followed while not hesitating to junk the bad ones. The government will release the promised Rs 4,000 crores as incentives by the previous regime in phases. Special efforts will be made to encourage SC/ST entrepreneurs by giving land at 50 per cent rebate.”The MSME policy will address key challenges faced by MSMEs such as access to affordable land, finance, good quality raw materials, skilled labour, markets and new technology. It has proposed 40 measures to offer end-to-end support from the startup to sale phase.Deputy Chief Minister and finance minister Bhatti Vikramarka stressed that a policy for MSMEs has been devised after a ten-year gap. “The policy has been devised in line with the thinking of Rahul Gandhi who has been stressing the need to protect the sector to secure jobs and the economy. In Telangana, only 231 MSMEs were shut down compared to 5,082 in Maharashtra and 2,456 in Tamil Nadu. The skill university will provide needed labour. The fee reimbursement given to students is also part of this effort.”Industries and IT minister D. Sridhar Babu stressed that no stone is being left unturned to make MSMEs future ready. He informed that their role in the face of disruptive technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) was discussed recently.“The government is mulling a public procurement policy for MSMEs. A task force is being established for the purpose. We will make everyone look towards Telangana. The government will construct flatted factories with in-built facilities for women across the 119 constituencies. This will encourage women members of SHGs to set up small businesses,” he said, stressing it is inclusive and has factored the needs of the backward community entrepreneurs.
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