Assist govt in making state startup hub: Bains to bizmen

Punjab Education Minister Harjot Bains has invited industrialists to make Punjab a startup hub by bringing their ideas to the state.

Harjot Bains was addressing the Regional Startup and MSME Conclave organised during the ongoing 18th Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX)

in Amritsar.

“If young startups grow in Punjab, then the industry will grow. Punjab will be economically prosperous if industries grow,” he said. Bains appealed to industrialists to go to universities and colleges and explore/support business ideas from the youth for implementation.

Calling upon industrialists present at the conclave to adopt government schools under CSR, Bains said that industries and startups need skilled employees.

“In the year 2022, there were 25 thousand seats in ITIs of Punjab and 70 per cent seats were filled. In 2023, 99 per cent of the seats in ITIs are filled. In the year 2024, the number of seats in ITI was increased to 35,000 and 96 per cent of them were filled. In the next two years, a target of 50,000 seats has been set in all the ITIs of Punjab,” he said.

Bains said the state government has started pushing for entrepreneurship at the school level.