National seminar on SSIs from Mar 22

Tirupati, Mar 21: A national seminar on entrepreneurship and Small Scale Industry (SSI) development will be organised by the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) here tomorrow.

Addressing a press conference, seminar director B Mahan said the theme of the two-day event, organised under the UGC DRS-I Special Assistance Programme, would be 'Entrepreneurship and Small Scale Industry Development in India- Prospects and Global Challenges.' The seminar would focus on the issues being faced by the SSIs and ways and means to improve productivity to meet global challenges. The SSIs had emerged as an engine of growth in several developed and developing economies by contributing significantly to the GDP. Mr Mahan said the exports from the SSI sector were registering an excellent growth rate in this decade, especially in garments, leather, gems and jewellery sectors.

During 2006-07, 44 lakh SSI units in the country employed about 238 lakh people, he said. Interactive sessions with experts from financial institutions and SSI units would also be held during the seminar, which would be inaugurated by SVU Vice-Chancellor C Ratnam.

UNI