“The newly elected state government in Assam should aim to create 35 lakh new jobs during the course of next five years by revising its industrial and agriculture policies and bring out a separate policy for IT, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to attract investors, both domestic and global,” the report said.
The report, ‘Action Agenda for New Government of Assam’, said the state should aim to attract investments worth Rs 2,00,000 crore to attain double digit economic growth as against 6 per cent growth clocked between 2004-05 and 2014-15.
The report was submitted to the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal by Assocham Secretary General DS Rawat and the Chamber’s Assam Development Task Force Chairman Babulal Jain.
“Issues like dearth of good governance, unemployment, inadequate basic infrastructure, sick micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), environmental degradation, primitive techniques and other problems are dogging the agriculture and industrial sectors’ growth in Assam,” Rawat said.
The new government needs to tackle these problems on an urgent basis with industry’s active support to drive Assam to new growth trajectory, he added.
The report said, “Assam needs to perk up agriculture and allied activities as almost half of the state’s total workforce and 75 per cent of the total population is directly or indirectly engaged in this sector for their livelihood”.
On investment front, the report mentioned that Assam attracted investments worth over Rs 1,00,000 crore during 2006-07 to 2015-16.
Source: The Financial Express