The four southern states’ real GDP rose 9.2 per cent per annum during 2005-09 and outpaced the national real GDP growth of 8.5 per cent during the same period, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The industry chamber also said the thrust in the coming fiscal would be agriculture, manufacturing, service sector, infrastructure and education.
Speaking to reporters to share CII-Southern Region (SR’s) initiatives and high-light the work plan for 2010-11, S Gopalakrishnan, CEO & MD, Infosys Technologies and chairman for CII-SR said southern states contrib-uted about 26 per cent to the GDP, and 21 per cent of the FDI flow.
This fiscal, the chamber’s theme for southern region will be ‘Economic Wellbeing for All: An Agenda for Business’, said Gopalakrishnan.
He added, agriculture needs to grow at a sustained rate of 4 per cent and manufacturing at 11-12 per cent long term average. The focus should be service sector, physical infrastructure and education will be the thrust areas for the region.
CII will moot state-level manufacturing policies for the southern states. The policy should simplify clearances and approval mechanisms, encourage green manufacturing, fast track infrastructure besides flexible labour rules without diluted social security net. He noted, every additional 1 per cent growth in manufacturing creates 20-30 million additional jobs.
He said, infrastructure development will be the focus area for CII this year. CII will identify key infrastructure projects in the region for fast track implementation, he said. Some of the key issues CII would take up with the respective southern state government will be a policy framework for speedy implementation of infrastructure projects, need for technology upgrade for faster project completion and setting up an effective dispute mechanism and provision for contingency funding.
For the power sector, the CII will work with state governments on reforms in the sector with a greater focus on private sector participation, especially on the generation and distribution side. Power purchases from captive power plants and a policy to benchmark tariff across country for uniformity.
Institute planned
CII-SR is planning to start an institute to train middle level managers in industries and academia in leadership qualities with an aim to build a high powered manufacturing community over the next two decades.
“We will set up the institute in partnership with others for which discussions are on. To be called Visionary Leaders For Manufacturing Institute (VLFMI), it will be set up in Tamil Nadu. The aim is to strengthen and transform the manufacturing sector by developing leaders,” CII’s southern region (CII-SR) chairman Gopalakrishnan told reporters today.
The new institute is likely to come up in Tamil Nadu, probably near Chennai and it will be the third institute to be promoted by the CII in South after the Bangalore-based Quality Institute and the Logistics Institute in Chennai.
