Poor infra, policies bottleneck for Assam's growth: Assocham

Poor infrastructure, limited connectivity and stringent policy measures are a few reasons for which Assam has failed to attract industries despite having 22 lakh jobless youth, industry body Assocham said.
"Assam, being the largest state in North Easterm region, alone has 2.2 million unemployed youth. A key constraint to the growth has been poor infrastructure and limited connectivity (roads, telecommunications and power supply), both within the region as well as with the rest of the country," Assocham said in its latest report.
The study paper 'Nurturing the Start-ups -- for building economy', prepared jointly by Assocham and Resurgent India, said the total forest area of Assam is 27,645 sq km, but it is not being utilised due to stringent policies.

"Downstream ancillary industries could generate around 1,50,000 jobs, but the Government of Assam doesn't have huge land bank to set up large industries and cannot acquire land by displacing small farmers," it added.
The region, connected to the rest of India by a narrow stretch of land called the "chicken's neck", needs better infrastructure to support and ensure significant investments and developmental aids, the study said.
"Lack of skilled manpower, high unemployment and land prices are other major hurdles in the region," it added.

Assocham, which organised a summit on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) industry of Assam, also announced to open its permanent regional office in Guwahati.

Assocham Secretary General DS Rawat said the chamber shall set up an institute for training entrepreneurs and help food processing skill development.
"We have decided to house our North Eastern regional headquarter in Guwahati, primarily to focus on employment generation, skill development and promotion of organic products to enhance income of farmers," he added.