Telangana should focus more on manufacturing sector now

Hyderabad: Why are MSMEs bleeding in the country? Absence of skilled-labour and financial support for entrepreneurs is the root cause, says former president of American Telugu Association.

On how can government of Telangana boost industrial growth in the State, Dr Gopal Reddy Gade, also the Trustee and former Chairman of Telangana Development Forum-USA, suggests that introducing vocational courses at high schools, State-sponsored economic support, and better co-ordination between Central and State schemes will support growth of entrepreneurship in Telangana. Speaking to Bizz Buzz, Dr Gade said, “The growth of information technology and software exports is on the right course in Telangana. But what the State needs is manufacturing economy not just IT. For manufacturing economy, we need skill training, vocational courses, quality education at the high school level, which is not the case as of today.”

TDF-USA recently reviewed the vocational aspect of education at high schools of Telangana, and they observed that there are not much of vocational courses provided to students. Speaking on this, he said, “IT has accommodated the top of the pyramid. We are talking about youth in the bottom of the pyramid who make up 60 per cent of it. For them, vocational courses will open the doors for entrepreneurship. Today, India does not make even half of the footwear needed in the country. We are buying everything made in China because it is cheap and the quality is good. We have to compete with that. China has shown the way for billion people. If we do at least a part of what China did then our youth would not be fleeing the country.”

Dr Gade went on to say that after these youth are trained into skilled manpower, the next practical step for them is to take up entrepreneurship, for which, besides Central schemes, State-sponsored economic support has to be provided. He added, “The problem is lack of trust between the Centre and State because of politics and corruption. This needs to be addressed. The previous government had issues as the schemes were promoted by Centre. The previous ruling government did not utilise the financial support of the central schemes because it had to pool in 35 -40 per cent of the money.”

Reflecting a positive outlook towards MSMEs growth in the State, he said that now onwards enterprises will get the financial support as they will witness better co-ordination between Central and State schemes. “The current Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has opened the communication channel with Union Ministers creating positive outcomes for overall State’s benefit,”