Assocham to train MSME entrepreneurs in North-East

The focus would be on employment generation, skill development and promotion of organic farming for farmers to enhance their income

Industry body, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), will set up a training institute here to train entrepreneurs of the region and facilitate finances for them, besides providing them marketing linkages. The focus, said Assocham's secretary general DS Rawat, would be on employment generation, skill development and promotion of organic farming for farmers to enhance their income.

"Lack of skilled manpower, high unemployment rate and high land prices are other major hurdles in the region. In spite of immense potential of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in Northeast, the region has largely remained underdeveloped. A key constraint to the growth has been poor infrastructure and limited connectivity, both within the region as well as with the rest of the country," said Rawat.

He said Assam has 2.2 million unemployed youth and downstream ancillary industries could generate around 150,000 jobs.

"The state government doesn't have huge land bank to set up large industries and cannot acquire land by displacing small farmers. The total forest area of Assam is 27,645 sq km but due to stringent policies, it's not being utilised," he added.