With employment generation becoming a top priority in order to fulfill its pre-poll promise for ghar-ghar naukari (employment for each household), Amarinder Singh government appears to shift its focus to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for the same.

No surprise that the focus of the upcoming “Progressive Punjab Investors Summit”, to be organised on December 5 and 6 in Mohali near Chandigarh, will remain on the MEMEs.

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“This summit we have kept a bit different. Punjab MEMEs have generally been aggrieved that investors’ summits in the past have been focusing on big players and foreign investors and that they have not been given their due. But the state government has given lots of attention to the needs and problems faced by the MSMEs even its latest industrial policy. With the same object in mind, we are organising this summit (with focus on MSMEs),” Additional Chief Secretary  (ACS) Industries-Commerce, Vini Mahajan told The Statesman.

She said the state has, therefore, resisted the temptation of focusing entirely on big-ticket international investments and instead has taken the bold step of internalising the efforts to support the MSMEs through industry partnerships which can help them shift their trajectory of growth.

The event aims to highlight that the state houses robust MSME units in numerous sectors which can be vendors or partners of the international clients looking for ancillary units to support their global value chains.

“We think that this is a big strength with Punjab that we have strong MSMEs. And they are the more employment-intensive also. Whether they are family enterprises or professionally run, these are the places where there is maximum potential for Punjab youth. By strengthening them, we are also looking at the rest of the ecosystem. So are looking at the credit delivery system, markets, e-commerce platform for them, foreign partners who might be interested in technology transfer if they (MSMEs) need,” she added.

Mahajan said for improving employability of Punjab youth, an effort is being made to establish a link between demand and supply of skilled workers. “Whenever we get an investment proposal, we are asking in advance for skill sets that they will need. We are transferring this data to the department of employment generation. Someone (investor) may take a year or two to construct the project, but we need to know in advance who many fitters, plumbers or whatever they will need. This is being done,” she added.

Mahajan said along with a key focus on MSMEs, the state has identified thrust sectors like agro and food processing, healthcare, manufacturing and light engineering, plastics and petrochemicals and skill development. The summit will feature a one-of-a-kind interactive exhibition which will showcase the key products manufactured and technologies in the state that have excelled at the global level.