The Centre is planning to set up 12 more plastic engineering institutes, CIPET, in the next three years at an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore.
At present, Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET), which operates on a hub and spoke model, has 28 centres across the country.
"In last one year, the government has increased the number of CIPET centres from 23 to 28 and now we are aiming to train 80,000 students by the end of this year including students in short-term courses," an official said.
Last year, around total 42,000 students were trained by CIPET centres across the country, he said.
"Now, in the next three years, we are planning to establish 12 net CIPET centres at different locations and the investment to establish each centre is around Rs 80 crore," the official added.
The Chennai-based institute conducts various diplomas, degree programmes and doctoral courses as per the human resource requirement of the plastics industries.
The official further said CIPET has also signed MoUs with renowned national and international universities in order to remain at the forefront of the technological development in the field of plastics and allied areas.
Indian plastics processing industry is expected to reach Rs 1,37,000 crore by 2017-18 on account of higher penetration of plastics in various sectors, according to a paper by FICCI and Organisation of Plastics Processors of India.
