KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Malaysian Indians have achieved progress in various fields over the last 50 years, although more needs to be done to make them competitive in the face of globalised realities, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said here.
He said more than 80% of them were concentrated in urban areas compared to 60% that previously lived and worked in the estates.
“This migration has provided better incomes for the Indian families,” he said in a statement Sunday.
He said 847,900 Indians were in the workforce currently, 11.5% of them professionals and managers, 19.4% associated professors, lecturers and nurses, 22.9% in sales, 4.9% in agriculture, 9.4% in craft and trade, 20.1% of them machine operators and 16.3% elementary workers.
Samy Vellu said about 2.9% of Indian households were below the poverty line but the mean monthly household income of Indian families was RM3,456, compared to the national figure of RM3,022.
He said 46,054 Indians were employed in the public sector with another 3,642 in the police force.
On the participation of Indians in the economy, Samy Vellu said there was a slow increase in the present 1.2% ownership of share capital of limited companies because many Indians believed in investing in property and not in the share market.
“Investing in property is also a good move as the price of property will appreciate,” he said.
He said MIC obtained micro-credit business loans for 4,000 Indian businessmen over the past few years through Bank Negara and financial institutions.
“We have also assisted in getting business licences for Indian businessmen,” he said.
Samy Vellu said the Government provided business-training programs to Indian youths through the National Entrepreneur Skills institute while RM3mil has been allocated for business loans for Indians through the Tekun foundation.
On education, he said 2,447 Indians were offered places in public universities in the 2007 intake.
