With major private sector companies expressing interest in exploring business opportunities in the North-East

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region, industry chamber CII is looking at the northeastern region as the next frontier for India Inc.

The industry body is looking at skill development to increase manpower generation in the region as a first step in this direction.

"More than 70 companies have shown interest in tying up with Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Assam, which are being developed under private-public partnerships. Eight new ITIs are coming up, while the CII is already involved in managing many of the existing 28 ITIs in the state," CII North East Council Co-Chairman Abhijit Barooah told PTI.

The two-day long North-East Skill Conclave organised by the chamber concluded here today. It was attended by representatives from all eight state governments of the region, besides Karnataka and Rajasthan and senior officials of many public and private sector firms.

"Along with the rest of the country, the North-East is also benefiting from the economic expansion of the past few years. We have big ticket projects like the Assam Gas Cracker project and Bogibeel project. However, we need huge manpower as currently, generation of skilled workforce is limited in the region," Barooah said.

He said the industry body, being involved in management of ITIs, has played a major role in giving inputs for modernising and rationalising the training process.

"We are also working on bringing institutes from the other parts of the country to the region," Barooah said.

The National Skill Development Corporation, a government of India joint venture, has shown interest in providing low interest loans to the upcoming ITIs in Assam, Barooah said.