Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday discussed the possibility of special employment programmes for youths with HDFC Bank and asked it to provide soft loans to young entrepreneurs.
Capt Amarinder asked the bank to support the Government’s employment initiatives by providing soft loans to youths to make them self-employed. He also urged the bank to initiate training and skill development programmes for youngsters in Punjab to help them get jobs.
During the meeting with Chief Minister, HDFC local branch banking head Govind Pandey sought the government’s support for welfare programmes for farmers and cited the bank’s sustainable livelihood initiative (SlI) as a robust business model that had helped empower thousands of people in rural India.
Through this initiative, the bank intends to reach out to the ‘un-banked’ and ‘under-banked’ segment of the population, he said. In doing so, it will help those at the bottom of the pyramid by providing them with livelihood finance, Pandey said.
He also spoke about various initiatives undertaken by the bank to create sustainable livelihood through skill development programmes for inclusive growth in Punjab.
Pandey said more than 88,000 members had, so far, been trained in various skill development programmes and nearly 83,000 members had received micro-enterprise training in detergent, liquid soap and phenyl making.
Capt Amarinder asked HDFC to start special training programmes to impart hands-on experience to the unemployed youth as drivers, tubewell mechanics, electricians and plumbers, the spokesperson said.
The Chief Minister promised to extend all possible government support to the bank’s initiatives for the youth, he said.