Ministry to organise scientific instruments exposition

The scientific instruments manufacturers’ cluster in Ambala (200 km north of Delhi on NH 1), which includes over 1,000 units, is upbeat, as the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises plans to organise the first exposition on scientific instruments to promote the cause of smaller units engaged in this business.

The three-day trade exposition will be inaugurated on 24 January.

A senior official at the Ministry of MSME, MSME Development Institute, Karnal, told Business Standard that over 75 per cent of scientific instruments manufacturers are located in the Ambala cluster. Most of them have been losing market due to an obsolete marketing network and lack of technical upgradation.

He added, “As the cluster provides employment to a large number of persons and is imperative for education and research and development (R&D) in India, the ministry took the initiative to hold an event under the ‘Vendor Development Programme’. The participants will be from business development service providers, raw material providers, machinery manufacturers, buyers from educational institutes, R&D institutes, testing labs and large industries looking for OEMs.”

Ashwani Goel, ex-president of the Ambala Scientific Instruments Manufacturers’ Association (ASIMA), said, “Due to red-tape, various proposals forwarded by the association have been ignored. The cluster has survived on its own, without any significant support from government agencies, due to increase in demand as a result of proliferation of educational institutes. Ambala manufacturers have lost substantially in the international market due to lack of technical upgradation, which is not possible without government intervention.”

Neeraj Garg, director of Oriental Science Apparatus Workshop (the oldest unit in Ambala, set up in 1919), said that there was tremendous scope for the Ambala units, provided they secured technical and financial support.

Ambala’s scientific instruments cluster exports more than 50 per cent of its output, amounting to Rs 200 crore a year, to the developing countries of Africa, the Far East and West Asia.