Kassia industrial expo to help SSIs market products

The four-day industrial and technology exhibition "" KITE 2006 "" organised by Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia) from June 16-19 at Palace Grounds in Bangalore is expected to witness participation from traditional industries from the 27 districts of the state.

The exhibition will be inaugurated by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Kassia president Hareesh P Hegde said here on Wednesday that till now some 200 companies from across India have confirmed their participation.

"Our main purpose in organising the mega industrial show is to develop marketing avenues for the small scale industries. It has been designed to project the industrial development in Karnataka. SSI entrepreneurs will get a chance to showcase their products for larger markets as also initiate technology upgradation move," he said.

Besides the four-day exhibition, which will be open to the public, there will be a seminar on issues relating to the SSI sector and vendor development programmes. Kassia will organise the exhibition every year from this year, he said.

Hegde said that Kassia will request the government to release Rs 210 crore as subsidy to SSIs. The coalition has till now released Rs 85 crore subsidy to SSIs.

As part of its efforts to upgrade the skills of workers in the small scale units, he said that training programmes will be arranged for nearly 5,000 workers in the printing industry in Bangalore this year.