Odisha asked to identify MSME clusters for Central assistance

For increasing the productivity and competitiveness in micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), National Productivity Council (NPC), under Union ministry of commerce and industry, has urged the state government to avail the opportunities of Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS) by identifying the clusters.

NPC is the national manufacturing and implementing unit for monitoring the implementation of LMCS and has been assigned to cover 350 clusters under 12th five plan.

"Odisha should avail the opportunity of the Government of India scheme. We, therefore, request your kind office for providing the existing or possible new cluster information from all DIC (District Industries Center) in the state for taking advantage of the scheme by forming as many clusters as possible", Shyama Prasad, Assistant Director, NPC wrote to Panchanan Dash, Secretary, state MSME department.

One light engineering cluster in Mancheswar, two cashew clusters in Ganjam, plastic cluster in Balasore and a pharma cluster in Cuttack, packaging cluster in Jagatpur can be formed in the state for availing the benefits of the scheme, officials sources said.

This scheme is one of the components under the flagship National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) of the Central government. The main objective of the Lean Manufacturing Programme is to enhance the manufacturing competitiveness for the MSMEs by applying lean techniques to identify and eliminate waste in the manufacturing process and also to streamline the system. The focus is on making improvement in the entire process flow of the MSME units and worker empowerment.

It involves engagement of Lean Manufacturing Consultants (LMC) to work with selected MSMEs in the chosen clusters with financial support by the Union government. A maximum of 80 per cent of the project cost for each cluster will be borne by the Centre.

In the 11th five year plan, the scheme was initially launched for implementation in 100 mini clusters (each a group of about 10 units) in the industries having potential for improvement in competitiveness and productivity.

The Union government has plans to cover about 500 clusters across the country and earmarked about Rs 300 crore with modifications in guidelines of the scheme for the Twelfth plan period.