CUTTACK: Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra has called upon Central PSUs to raise their procurement from micro and small enterprises (MSEs) of the State from 20 per cent to 25 per cent of their total requirement.
Attending the closing ceremony of the four-day National Level Vendor Development Programme-cum-Industrial Exhibition, MSME EXPO ODISHA-2014, here, Mishra reiterated the Government’s commitment to promote manufacturing sector in the State. The new industrial policy is scheduled to be announced in March, 2015. The local industries, entrepreneurs and industry bodies should come forward with their suggestions and proposals so that the policy can address gamut of problems and issues ailing the industrial sector, he said.
The Odisha Industries’ Association put forth the problems afflicting domestic MSEs before the Minister and called for scaling down of VAT from five per cent to four per cent. The Government should revive two institutions like Odisha State Financial Corporation for providing financial support to enterprises and Odisha Small Industrial Corporation Ltd for making raw materials available to them. The units should also be allowed to float public shares after completion of three years, association president Abani Kanungo said.
Mother plants like Nalco, MCL, NTPC, PPT, Paradip Refinery Project (IOCL), Ordnance Factory, ODCL, East Coast Railways, Tata Steel, IFFCO, NINL and BSNL along with financial institutions like SIDBI, IDBI, SBI, Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank,UCO Bank, NPC, KVIC, Coir Board, APITCO and 90 MSMEs took part in the expo. Seminars on credit flow to MSMEs in Odisha, prospect of food processing industries and lean manufacturing competitive scheme were organised. The event created an opportunity for the mother plants to assess the strength and capability of MSEs and facilitate them to locate appropriate vendors for their outsourcing requirement, director in-charge MSME Development Institute PK Gupta said.
Special Secretary, Industries SC Naik, Director Technical, MCL AN Tiwari and Director, Commercial, Nalco Soma Mondal also spoke.
