Industry's help sought, to boost MSME growth through clusters

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Minister of State for MSMEs K H Muniyappa today said that the government is ready to offer all possible assistance to the SME sector and is actively seeking suggestions from industry to facilitate marketability of SME products on a global scale.

Inaugurating the 6th National Cluster Summit organised by the CII-AVANTHA Centre for Competitiveness for SMEs here, the minister said R&D and innovation were key to building capacity and improving marketability. Innovation was a key theme in the Twelfth Plan, he said. Muniyappa added that plans were already in place to add 15 more clusters.

H P Kumar, chairman and managing director, National Small Industries Corporation, said that lack of industrial infrastructure, availability and cost of capital, and compliance with labour norms were the main problems hindering SME growth and quality upgradation. MSMEs also face an onslaught from imports, especially from China; as a result their market share has been slipping, he added.

Ayumi Fujino, Unido Representative for India and Regional Director for South Asia, said a prominent issue was sustainability in environment and energy. So even MSME clusters should address the adoption of cleaner production, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and waste management, she said.

Gautam Thapar, chairman, CII-AVANTHA Centre, outlined two new initiatives to help SMEs augment their competitiveness. The first is a two-year project with Unido to implement three corrosion clusters and the second is to implement the Golden Top Companies 100 (GTC100) project.

Deep Kapuria, chairman, CII National MSME Council, said it was imperative for SMEs to add value not only to themselves, but also to the country. He said that it was essential to upgrade the product development cycle, to be globally marketable.