Ashwani Kumar urges FM to mitigate loss caused to SMEs

New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar today said he has urged Finance Ministry to take steps for mitigating the hardship caused to SMEs due to hardening of interest rates, rupee appreciation against dollars and lower import duties.

''I have written to Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) to take steps for mitigating the hardship caused to SMEs,'' he said on the sidelines of International Conference on Technology and Innovation for Knowledge Management here.

In a letter to Finance Minister P Chidambaram last evening, he said, ''I have indicated the reasons for the loss and it is for him (P Chidambaram) to put forward a package.'' Speaking at the conference, Mr Kumar said, the technology and innovation are identified as two major focus areas for knowledge management.

''While technology provides the hardware and software aspects for managing knowledge, the brainware or the mindware phenomenon are promoted by the innovative capabilities of human resources, he said.

The conference was organised by the National Productivity Council (NPC), the apex institution spearheading the productivity movement in the country.

NPC, which would complete 50 years of in this month, has been offering consultancy, training, research and awareness creation activities to spread the message of productivity in all sectors of the Indian economy.

UNI MP BJR DS1500