Collector C. Kamaraj on Thursday said that the District Industries Centre had fixed Rs. 3 crore as target to be given as capital subsidy in this financial year for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Madurai. This represents a manifold increase from Rs. 20 lakh during 2008-09 and Rs. 1 crore during 2009-10.
Addressing a conference on ‘Innovation in manufacturing for MSMEs,' organised here on Thursday by the Madurai Zone of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said that the measure formed part of the MSME policy of Tamil Nadu, the first State in the country to formulate such a sector-specific policy. It also provided other subsidies to promote cleaner and environment-friendly technologies, in power tariff and for agro-based enterprises.
Job fair
To bridge the gap between unemployment and unavailability of eligible employees, the District Administration would conduct a large scale job fair in the first week of September.
MSMEs constituted 8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), 45 per cent of the manufacturing output and 40 per cent of the exports. It also provided employment to 60 million people through 26 million enterprises.
Further, plastic, rubber, jewellery and engineering clusters were also coming up in the district. The prime focus would be technology and solution for meeting manufacturing challenges. Engineering colleges, associations and research and development units were being encouraged to start incubation centres on a public- private partnership mode, said Mr. Kamaraj.
Sanjeev Kotnala, Vice-President, Brandcomm, Bhaskar Group, said that management was vital to ensure that innovation as an idea or thought was effectively converted into a viable proposition.
He narrated how his group's newspaper Divya Bhaskar penetrated the Gujarat market successfully through innovative marketing despite its origins in Maharashtra. They were going to launch in Jharkhand on August 22 with the Indian cricket team captain M.S. Dhoni as brand ambassador.
R.D. Sriram, Convenor – manufacturing panel, CII Madurai Zone, said that innovation was necessary for development, especially among the youth. Shyam Prakash Gupta, Vice-Chairman, CII Madurai Zone, industrialists and entrepreneurs from various sectors spoke.
