BHUBANESWAR: The micro, small and medium enterprises should come forward and take advantage of cluster development programmes like MSE-CDP, Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) and e-marketing by registering under Government e-Market Place (GeM), said Union Secretary in the Ministry of MSME Arun Kumar Panda. Speaking at a seminar on ‘Credit and Marketing Linkage to MSMEs and Exporters’ on the sidelines of Odisha MSME International Trade Fair here on Tuesday, Panda said the MSMEs can take advantage of web portals - ‘MSME Samadhan’ to address the problem of delayed payment and ‘MSME Sambandh’ containing information on procurement by Central PSUs from MSMEs.
“More than one crore business units have been registered under GST in the country of which, 97 per cent are MSMEs which have got an opportunity to changeover from informal sector to formal sector by registering under GST. They will have the advantage of formal sector while getting credit from the formal financial institutions,” he maintained. Stating that the Central Tool Room Training Centre (CTTC), Bhubaneswar is one of the best in the country, Panda said, many parts of Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission) and defence equipment have been manufactured and supplied by a consortium of MSMEs through the CTTC.
Additional Chief Secretary of State MSME Department LN Gupta said 54 clusters have been identified in the State which can be assisted under MSE-CDP scheme for improved facility and better technology for the MSMEs. In order to improve quality of MSME products and their marketing, Gupta said a drive to implement Zero Effect and Zero Defect (ZED) in collaboration with Quality Council of India and GeM is being initiated. “While nearly 40,300 MSME units have gone into production in the State during the current fiscal, 1.15 lakh persons have been employed,” he said and assured that the provisions of Odisha Procurement Preference Policy will be enforced soon.
Managing Director of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Sundeep Nayak proposed convergence between MSMEs and Cooperatives in the State so that the industrial cooperatives can take advantage of NCDC schemes. Among others, Customs Commissioner Deep Shekhar, Additional DG of Foreign Trade under Union Ministry of Commerce Anita Sengupta, Secretary of OASME Satwik Swain and Director of Industries SR Pradhan also spoke.