Tamil Nadu has grabbed 25 per cent of the Centre's subsidy under the Cluster Development Programme for establishment of common facility centres and also led the way in eight out of ten components of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP), said Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises – Development Institute (MSME-DI), Chennai, Director S. Sivagnanam on Wednesday.
Delivering the special address at an orientation programme on ‘Design Clinic Scheme for MSMEs' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), MSME and the National Institute of Design (NID), he said that due to the proactive role played by the MSME-DI and State government, Tamil Nadu was also able to get 25 per cent of the total subsidy for various schemes of the Ministry of MSME under NMCP schemes.
“Last year, we sent 25 proposals for formation of Common Facility Centres for different clusters, of which 15 have been cleared and are in various stages of implementation. The amount sanctioned by the Centre ranges from Rs.44 lakh to Rs.7.68 crore totalling Rs.37 crore,” he said.
According to Mr. Sivagnanam, the State is leading the way in the NMCP components such as barcode, incubator, Intellectual Property Rights, lean manufacturing, mini tool room, energy, marketing and quality management standards/quality technology tools.
“ICT in Indian manufacturing sector is yet to take off as the guidelines are to be finalised. However, in the case of Design Clinic Scheme we have held several orientation programmes in the State to bring MSME sector and design expertise into a common platform and provide expert advice and solutions on real time design problems, resulting in continuous improvement and value addition for existing products of MSMEs,” he said.
NID Director Pradyumna Vyas said that the scheme was designed with the objective of spreading design awareness, encouraging design intervention and competitiveness of MSMEs.
It would also provide financial assistance for programme implementation. Next week, NID would showcase design intervention outcomes at its Gallery in Ahmedabad.
Briefing about the scheme, NID, Senior Faculty – Industrial Design, Shashank Mehta, said in two years' time it would reach out to about 200 MSME clusters by holding design sensitisation workshops and design awareness programmes. It was the eighth such orientation programme in Chennai.
