THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries Minister P Rajeeve said that the state is witnessing a reverse migration of professionals. According to a report from LinkedIn, 40,000 professionals returned to Kerala this financial year.
Of them 9,800 returned from the UAE, 1,600 each from the UK and Saudi Arabia, and 1,200 from the US. The returnees are currently employed in the state, said the minister during the Question Hour in the assembly on Wednesday.
The report further stated that Kerala is ranked ninth in terms of professional talent pool. At 172%, the state has the highest growth rate for talent pool. Rajeeve pointed out that the MSME sector registered a commendable growth in recent years.
“There were 75,000 MSMEs registered on the centre’s UDYAM portal when the current government came to power. Now the number has increased to 16 lakh. Of them, 3.53 lakh are new entrepreneurs and 31% of them are women,” said the minister.
He further said that 24 public sector enterprises in the state are profit-making, adding that the rest are on the way to become profitable
Meanwhile, the Union government has suggested not to go ahead with the GIFT city project as part of the Kochi-Bangalore industrial corridor. Kerala had begun steps, including land acquisition, for the project.
At first, the Centre asked the state to rename the project since there was a GIFT city project in Gujarat. Kerala then renamed the project as Global City. But later the Centre took a stand that no new project should be taken up until the Gujarat project is completed.