'It is imperative to remove anomalies in VAT'

Chennai, Jun 5: The Confederation of Indian Industry-Southern Region (CII-SR) today said key industry sectors in Tamil Nadu were losing their competitiveness to other states in the country due to non-implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT).

Addressing a press conference here, newly-elected CII-SR Chairman M Lakshminarayan stressed the urgent need to remove the anomalies existing between the tax structure of Tamil Nadu and that of other southern states.

He cited the example of sugar industry in Tamil Nadu, which was losing its competitiveness to Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh due to anomalies in tax structure. Similarly, the state's leather industry, which was dominated by small scale tanners, was heavily tax burdened, he pointed out.

Detailing the CII-SR's work plan for the year 2006-2007 which had the theme of 'Competitiveness through Innovative, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth,' he said the Confederation was planning to make 5,000 economically challenged youth of the southern region states employable by 2007.

The Confederation would also create new Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) clusters in Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Hosur and would shortly bring out comprehensive study reports on transformig Bangalore into an Aerospace hub, he added.

Mr Lakshminarayan said the CII-SR would also bring out study reports on economic development of north Karnataka, economic agenda for Pondicherry, study on agriculture and food processing in Kerala, economic development of north Kerala and feasibility of clusters in plywood and rubber in Kerala. The CII would also provide advisory services through its centres of excellence in the areas of quality, green business, energy management, total cost management and logistics and supply chain management to enhance the competitiveness of the industry.

The Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre, an autonomous society promoted by CII and the Tamil Nadu Government, would undertake projects in technology awareness, research promotion, technology sourcing, quality control and intellectual property rights, targeting the small and medium industries, he added.

On skill development initiatives, Mr Lakshminarayan said so far 1,500 candidates had been trained at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tirunelveli and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu.

Currently, over 1,150 candidates were undergoing training at different places and 3,360 candidates would be trained in different trades such as electrical installation, masonry, plumbing and motor vehicle engineering, he added.

Under its corporate social responsibility programmes, the CII would continue with its initiatives in tsunami areas by training 1,200 youth of the tsunami-hit coastal areas in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry on different skill sets.

It also proposed to create at least 90 Self Help Groups(SHGs) and train leaders of 1,500 SHGs in the next one year, he said.

UNI