Need to boost manufacturing to create jobs, take advantage of global factors: Anand Mahindra

The country’s unemployment rate in July fell to 6.80 per cent, the lowest level in the last six months, amid rising agriculture activities during monsoon, according to the latest CMIE data. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.80 per cent in July from 7.80 per cent in June, as per the CMIE data.

”With one of the largest youthful populations in the world, it’s easy to imagine the potential for social unrest if jobs don’t grow along with the youthful population,” the Mahindra group chairman said.

”The government is trying to do its bit and has (also) announced plans to hire one million people in government jobs by 2023, given that the country has a 900 million strong workforce, there’s a lot more to do,” Mahindra said.

According to him, in the private sector, job creation is happening mainly at the lower end of the gig economy, which is not ”enough”. ”To create jobs on a mass scale and to take advantage of the global factors that are moving in our favour, we must boost manufacturing. Even more important than large conglomerates are MSMEs that can take advantage of the trend toward localisation of manufacturing and the use of technology to create the scale,” Mahindra said.

Mahindra said in the US, 90 per cent of new businesses are mom-and-pop shops and while their investment may not be huge, they create 67 per cent of new jobs in the country.

”In India, too, taken together, MSMEs can be a spine for growth. Even though inflation is a concern, from the business angle, it can nevertheless provide a minimum threshold of returns on productive assets,” he asserted.