Focus on future jobs & upskilling

Thiruvananthapuram: The state’s industrial policy that is being revised after four years, focuses on the upgrading skills of youth for jobs of the future, industries and technologies for a fourth industrial revolution, and aligning the industrial sector with the state’s vision of responsible and sustainable investments.
Presenting the draft industrial policy on Thursday, industries minister P Rajeeve said the new policy will aim to tap the inherent strengths of the state and foster investments in sunrise sectors. “We will play to our strengths and see wherever we can utilize our production capabilities to manufacture in Kerala. We will focus on our core strengths and aim to promote employment generation,” he said.
The major sunrise sectors that have been identified include artificial intelligence, space sector, ayurveda, and biotechnology, among others.
The existing industrial policy was formulated in 2018. The minister said the draft industrial policy would be shared with stakeholders within 10 days, and inputs will be taken from industry bodies and others before finalizing the policy. The new industrial policy will be finalized and released in January next year, and will be effective from April 1, next year.
The industries would be categorized under the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) if the investment in plant and machinery does not exceed Rs 50 crore and the turnover does not exceed Rs 250 crore. If the investment in plant and machinery is anywhere between Rs 50 crore and Rs 300 crore, it would be categorized as a large industry and any figure exceeding Rs 300 crore would be a mega industry.
Realizing that the fiscal incentives are key to investment promotion and in turn employment, incentives have been incorporated to cater to the identified sunrise and priority sectors. This includes investment subsidy on fixed capital, state GST reimbursement, apprenticeship incentive for the manufacturing sector, exemption in the electricity duty, access to finance for MSMEs through the IPO route, waiver in stamp duty and registration charges, interest subvention, reduction in land conversion charges, incentive for exporters for participation in international trade fairs, quality certification incentives, etc.
The minister said that the key pillars of the new industrial policy include fostering entrepreneurship, enabling infrastructure, preparing for an industrial revolution 4.0 and upgrading skill sets of youth for futuristic jobs. The new draft policy has been designed with a view to ensure that it would align with the industry engagements in the national and global level, with a special focus on sectors in which the state has strength (traditional sectors) and on sunrise sectors.