Jagan's move on 75% jobs for locals laudable: FSME

Hyderabad: The Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises of India (FSME India) on Sunday hailed the proposal of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh to reserve 75 per cent jobs in new industrial units to local people.

"it's a great move which is need of the hour as unemployment is at its peak in Andhra Pradesh. It will benefits thousands of unemployed youth in the residual Andhra Pradesh," APK Reddy, national president, FSME India, told The Hans India.

Reddy went on to explain why the proposal was a right move. "The Andhra Pradesh government is offering land at concessional rates to new industrial units.

It is also showering on them a large number of incentives ranging from tax re-imbursements to lower power tariffs. The government is within its right to seek support from private companies to reserve 75 per cent jobs for locals," he observed.

The FSME India chief however pointed out that such a proposal will be feasible only if the State government makes concerted efforts to make skilled talent pool available for the industries. "Andhra Pradesh is home to a large number of unemployed youth.

But they lack employable skills. Efforts should be made to train unemployed youth and equip them with right skills," he added. He suggested to the AP government to rope in professional colleges for skill development.

"The State government is offering fee re-imbursement. But students who are coming out of colleges are not being equipped with right employable skills. The AP government should make it mandatory for colleges that avail fee re-imbursement to train their students in employable skills.

That way, AP will have sufficient skilled talent pool for new industrial and business units to bank on," he said. Urging AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to discuss the issue with MSMEs association, he said: "It is no exaggeration to say that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector is the lifeline for Andhra Pradesh.

More importantly, this is only the sector that generates highest number of 24 jobs for each Rs crore investment it makes. No large company or even governments can match MSME sector in this aspect.

Therefore, the government should involve MSME sector in policy making if it wants more jobs in the State," he said.

He debunked the argument that companies would not invest in AP if the government brought in a legislation mandating 75 per cent jobs for locals.

"What companies or business need is right talent. They are concerned with talent's origins.

Industry will definitely hire locals if there is a ready talent pool. Hiring locals will always be fetching for any company," he said.

Reddy lauded the AP government for allocating Rs 4,000 crore for reviving sick MSMEs in the Budget and releasing Rs 200 crore for clearing pending industrial incentives.