Rajasthan's Rs.10 crore fund for ceramic skills

"A major effort is needed to train the workforce now that the 'Ceramic Hub' at Ghilot will be coming up very soon. Once the investments come to Ghilot, we should be ready with the skilled work force," Pareek told an industry exposition here.

"We will also work and come out with a roadmap and a customized package of incentives to attract more investments in the ceramic and glass sector in Rajasthan," he added at the valedictory function of CeraGlass 2012.

The exposition was organised jointly by the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Ceramic Society (ICS) at the Sitapura Export Promotion Industrial Park here.

The minister also said RIICO will provide land to institutes that want to impart skills and that the state government will be pleased to facilitate technology transfer from other countries into Rajasthan.

Professor V.S. Vyas, deputy chairman of Rajasthan's State Planning Board, said the future for the state lay in establishing industries that provide value addition to raw material.

"This is what CeraGlass was: An opportunity to understand what we need to do and how so that our industries don't just export the raw material," said Vyas, who also headed the jury that assessed the quality of display at the exposition.

According to C.K. Mathew, Rajasthan's chief secretary, efforts were needed to make the state a major producer of ceramic and glass products, which already had a host of advantages.

"We have an upcoming hub at Ghilot, availability of gas and a determination to promote the sector. What we need now is to train the workforce, introduce new technology and provide special incentives to truly gain from these advantages," he said.

Sunil Arora, Rajasthan's principal secretary for Industries and chairman of RIICO, said CeraGlass had succeeded in attracting many big and small players during its second edition itself.

"We will continue to try to make it a part of the psyche of entrepreneurs from the ceramic and glass industry from around the world, so that participation keeps on increasing each year," he said.

Adding to that, Naveen Mahajan, managing director of RIICO, said 96 percent of those who attended the exposition wanted to return to CeraGlass 2014. He said this was the feedback which CII, the co-organiser of the event, received.

"This was the first of its kind comprehensive fair in the sector which attracted companies from the top five countries in this sector -- China, France, Germany, Italy and Korea.

The exposition saw the launch of 135 new products launched or displayed, including ceramic tiles, sanitaryware, potteryware, stoneware, tableware, crockery, insulators, ceramic colours, fruits and glazed products and all types of glass products.