CII identifies high employment sectors

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has identified seven sectors in the economy that it feels with generate employment on a big scale.

These are textiles, leather, food processing, tourism, paper, knowledge-based industries, and gems and jewellery. Placing the agenda and the road map for enabling a sustained economic growth, CII's new President YC Deveshwar said the forecast for the GDP growth rate in 2005-06 was 7.5 per cent.

As a pro-active measure to ensure that employment opportunities are available vis-à-vis skilled manpower, the CII has committed itself to running skill development programmes & and to the setting up of 500 new centres for vocational training.

It has also pledged commitment to upgrading the 100-odd ITIs in the country. Emphasising the CII's efforts to enable a sustained economic growth, Deveshwar, in his first speech to the media in Delhi as CII chief, said, "We are in the business of making things happen."

Capturing the essence of CII efforts in the coming years towards furthering economic growth, he said, "The acronym we have coined is SEEKS -- social, economic and ecological development through application of knowledge for sustained competitiveness and growth."

He also cautioned against growth at the cost of environment degradation.

"If India grows at the OECD rate, then we will run out of water by 2050." He said the triple bottom line approach to growth should be followed, which would take care of "people, planet and profit".

While he supported the flow of foreign direct investment into the country, he also said generation of employment must be ensured.

"In the paper industry, for example, if an investment that does not use our natural resources is allowed, then, a 0.5 million tonne paper unit can generate only 600 new jobs. However, if forest development is linked to this, another three lakh jobs can be created," he pointed out.

Calling for a uniform goods and service tax, he said value-added tax was only the beginning of such a regime. He also sought rationalisation of import duties, reduction of transaction taxes, and financial sector reforms.

Deveshwar said four new councils will be set up under the CII for national capital conservation and development, financial services, tourism and transportation.

CII will also initiate studies to ensure that the value chain in each sector is linked and that benefits of growth reach all sections of the economy.

Four illustrative ideas have been put forward by the CII. These are: food (seed to stomach), textiles (fibre to fashion), leather (carcass to couture), and paper (tree to textbook).