Indian Navy organises workshop to encourage MSMEs as part of Make in India

A workshop on industrial support for Indian Naval Ships based at Karwar was conducted on Tuesday at the Naval base here.

Organised by Headquarters Karnataka Naval Area and chaired by Rear Admiral KJ Kumar VSM, Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area, the workshop was attended by a total of 150 delegates from all over the country which also included Senior Officers from Naval Headquarters and Western Naval Command, read a statement.

The aim of the workshop was to broaden the horizon of industries based in and around Karwar, by way of providing an opportunity to participate in repairs and maintenance of shipborne equipment.

As a part of this workshop, a series of presentations were shown to the delegates which covered diverse nature of equipment fitted onboard Indian Naval ships and bringing out the opportunities for their repair and maintenance were highlighted, the statement further read.

During the workshop, all the delegates were explained the procedure for vendor registration with Indian Navy.

Faculty from National Institute of Technology, Suratkal also attended the workshop and stated that students will get involved in finding solutions to the problems faced by the ships through Research and Development. All delegates were also given insight about the procedure for indigenisation of equipment and Inspection and Quality Assurance Procedures by Chief Quality Assurance Establishment (CQAE).

Subsequent to this workshop, the Indian Navy organised a visit in order to apprise all delegates with their requirement and need for indigenisation for better technical support.

"(This is) a very good initiative by the Ministry of Defence especially Indian Navy. This is a positive response and approach towards the Government's policy of giving an opportunity to new players from the private sector particularly in the shipbuilding, ship repair and service industry," said Atul Jadhav, Mentor CII Goa Logistics panel.

The workshop was organised for the first time in Karwar wherein the vendors and academia assembled together for the industry support.

"This will create opportunities in abundance to local MSME to develop themselves as successful vendors for the Navy. Prospects of local trade and industries are promising in coming years and will definitely have a positive impact on per capita income at large," said Vinay Javali, Hon Secretary Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.