Cluster development to boost SMEs

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, May 3 (UNI) Close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's call to focus on role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in country's, industrial development, national and international experts at a Conclave have emphasised the critical importance of SMEs in India's economic growth.

The SME Cluster Conclave organised by industry chamber CII in partnership with the Ministry of Small Scale Industries (SSIs) here yesterday, indicated that government was proposing to increase financial assistance to existing clusters of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) upto 80 per cent of their financial requirements under the 11th Plan.

Mr Jawahar Sircar, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Ministry of SSI and Agro and Rural Industries (ARIs) said the Cluster Concept was India's answer to global competition.

''To enable MSMEs to become competitive, the government is proposing to build a pool of consultants under its National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme. These consultants would be deployed with a cluster of eight to ten companies for a period of around one to one and a half years. The cost of these consultants will be borne by the government,'' he said in a statement here.

Participating in the Conclave, Mr Philippe Scholtes, UNIDO Regional Representative in India, said the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has proposed a five-year country strategy for India, of which cluster development would be an integral part along with programmes aimed at upgrading technological capability and building up of social capital in the country's industrial sector.

Refering to the interesting new experiment of twinning of clusters in the India-Italy Cluster Development Cooperation he said UNIDO was also exploring new applications of industrial cluster based approaches focussing on corporate social responsibility and poverty alleviation in micro enterprises.

Other speakers included Jamil Ashraf, Executive Director, Sandhar technologies; H P Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, NSIC; Rakesh Rewari, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI; and S Sandilya, Chairman, CII Economic Affairs Committee.

UNI

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