Thiruvananthapuram: The government’s training initiatives on entrepreneurship for the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in collaboration with Udhyam Learning Foundation, and NGO, are receiving good results, labour and excise minister T P Ramakrishnan said.
Two of the 30 ITI students from Kozhikode trained in the first batch have been able to get their ideas for self-entrepreneurship approved by the Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) and have been granted loans for their initiatives, the minister said.
He added that 450 more students from 28 ITIs across the state are currently undergoing the training programme.
As many as 30 selected master trainers from the 28 ITIs were provided training by the Udhyam Learning Foundation, who in turn, go back to their institutes and train the selected students.
The programme was launched on July 29 this year. The main idea behind the training is to improve the students’ employability skills and equip them to come up with own ventures. The students will also be assisted to market the products developed as project during their training.
The minister said financial institutions are looking for good ideas and entrepreneurs, and being technical experts, the ITI students will be able to launch new initiatives and provide jobs to more people.
The minister said there are schemes under which the financial institutions will provide loans up to Rs 50 lakh.
With an aim to launch 5,000 new ventures in the next five years with 1,000 units per year, the Kerala Financial Corporation has already launched schemes that will provide loans up to Rs 50 lakh for new ventures at the rate of 7% interest.
Out of the 4,879 applications received by the KFC, 506 have been qualified, and 356 loans have been sanctioned.
Entrepreneurs spur economic growth and with several measures implemented by the government, the state has been able to make great strides in information technology and its allied sectors like the nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, the minister said.
By attracting more ITI students to these sectors, the state will be able to ensure great achievements in the sector, he said.
The minister also gave away the certificates for the first batch of ITI students who successfully completed their training under the Udhyam Learning Foundation.