The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (TISS) and Azim Premji University has released a new policy proposal Udyog Sahayak Enterprises Network (USENET) for employment generation and to help micro and small enterprises clear roadblocks and scale up their operations.
Inaugurating the event, Mr. Anurag Behar, Vice-Chancellor of Azim Premji University, underlined the role played by automation in weakening the connection between growth in value-added and growth in jobs. He observed that “this endeavor is truly remarkable as you are putting a possible solution out there, not only identifying a problem.
Please visit the link to read the policy document and know more: https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/USENET_Report_Final_for_Release.pdf
Prof. Sahlini Bharat, TISS Director noted the resonance with TISS’ mission of fostering socially relevant entrepreneurship and called the proposal “simple in approach but lofty in goal.” She also observed that the idea is an excellent example of supporting technology for society. Finally she noted that such a system can also help micro-enterprises emerge from the shock of Covid-19 which has hit this sector particularly hard.
Presenting the policy proposal, Mr. T. Muralidharan, Chairman FICCI Telangana State Council and co-author of the report, underlined the problem of “jobless growth” and pointed out that we are in danger of losing our demographic dividend. He called for giving micro-entrepreneurs their due recognition in the making of the nation.
Mr, Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General of FICCI, commended the authors on the collaborative effort and called for a momentum to be created to take the idea forward. He observed that the amount of investment called for the proposal per MSE was less than what state governments often spend on skilling an individual. He also noted that this can lay the foundation for what the Hon’ble PM emphasis regarding a shift in mindset form job seeking to job creation.
The report proposes the creation of a support system that will improve Ease of Doing Business for largely informal micro and small entrepreneurs. Udyog Sahayak Enterprises will take services such as digitisation and formalisation, availing of government loans, subsidies or other benefits, ensuring compliance with local, regional, and national regulation, aiding partnership with digital marketing platforms and digital payment platforms, to the micro-entrepreneurs at their doorstep.
The report estimates that by enabling scale-up, USENET can aid in the creation of an additional 1 crore (10.3 million) jobs over five years going up to nearly 6 crores (56.9 million) over 10 years. Based on value added per worker observed in this sector and assuming a 12% nominal rate of growth in GVA, these jobs represent an additional economic value of INR 2,16,000 crores at the end of 5 years and over 19 lakh crores at the end of 10 years.
Also read: PMKVY 3.0 to focus on strengthening District Skill Committees (DSC) for demand-driven skill training https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/pmkvy-3-0-to-focus-on-strengthening-district-skill-committees-dsc/
