At a time when jobs are in short supply in the country, Union Minister Ananth Kumar has claimed that plastic industry could be major employment creator. Kumar said that CIPET — an apex Institute in the field of plastics- could  provide  over eight lakh jobs to plastic engineers as against their present strength of 40,000 in the country.

“World has shifted to plastic in most of the sectors, particularly in the health care, automobiles and agriculture. Towards this change, the  Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET), is playing a key role,”  said Kumar. 

“More than civil or mechanical engineers we need plastic engineers “,  he added .

There  were 23  CEPET in the country  but after the BJP Government came to power their number have increased to 39, he said. 

The Centre has decided to increase the number of CIPETS to  50  in the next one year, said the Minister.  A new CIPET would soon be set up in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, he said.

 The Centre set up CIPET  in Raipur, Chattisgarh, in September 2015, with a special focus to provide academic and employment oriented skill development training to the unemployed youths of Chhattisgarh.

In 2014, there were 40,000 engineers and technicians in the country even though  there is a demand for an estimated 8 lakh  plastic engineers required in the country, said Kumar.

 Degree Courses offered by CIPET are academic programs with  course work and  practical exposure designed to provide an edge in the  global society. Diploma courses are job-oriented programs aim to provide one-of-its kind hands-on training in the field of plastics technology.

Plastics Technology services the fields of Design, Tool Room, Processing, Testing, Inspection and Plastics Waste Recycling services  the Polymer & allied Industries.

The surplus  job creation by  CIPETS is encouraging  as labour ministry  claimed  that country's organised sector  created a little over 1,100 jobs a day in 2016-17 which is  4.16 lakh new jobs for the entire year. The rate of job creation was 2% higher than 2015-16. 

Organised sector in the country provides only 10.1 percent of the jobs in the country. Majority  - 60 crore-  are  employed in the unorganised sector with little social security. India officially has 1.8 crore  unemployed- the majority of them  being young people.