AP Chambers seeks govt intervention as MSMEs face shortage of manpower

Facing acute shortage of manpower in the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) segment, the Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry Federation (AP Chambers) on Friday requested the State government to usher in some fundamental changes so that polytechnic students do not get wooed away by the software industry from core engineering streams.

Potluri Bhaskar Rao, president, AP Chambers wrote to C Nagarani, director of Technical Education, that the situation is not conducive for industry in the southern state as students are being "brainwashed" not to pursue careers in mechanical, electrical, civil and metallurgy engineering streams but to go after only white collar software jobs.

"From the recent interactions by the industries with the parents and students from different colleges, we understood that parents are forcing children to pursue careers only in information technology as software industry is more remunerative," said Rao in a press note shared by AP Chambers.

Rao said several industrial units in the manufacturing side such as foundries and auto ancillary units are facing extreme shortage of manpower, especially in the Autonagar area of Vijayawada and Guntur.

He highlighted that even the students who studied ITI and polytechnic are not willing to take up these jobs as they are craving for IT jobs which also they are failing to bag.

Incidentally, a foundry in need of 60 hands could not find them recently and an effort to reach out to a polytechnic college for prospective manpower also failed as the college itself with a sanctioned strength of 100 metallurgy students could admit only six, observed AP Chambers president.

Considering these issues plaguing the State's industry, Rao requested the State government to overhaul polytechnic education to ensure a steady supply of talent pool for MSMEs in Andhra Pradesh.