The Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to form a taskforce under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to draw out plans for startup units and to redress difficulties being faced by the MSME sector.
“You have been emphasising on skill development and job creation for the unemployed youths and also for all-round development of manufacturing sector. The MSME sector has a bigger role to play in this regard. But the sector in our State is languishing both in the field of startup units and existing ones. We request you to form a taskforce that would sort out these difficulties,” the letter to the CM mentioned.
The UCCI also made strong arguments in support its proposal. It said the IPR and MSME polices declared in 2007 and 2009 were not implemented properly due to absence of notification by concerned departments. The same shouldn’t recur in case of the upcoming new policy. The taskforce would go through reasons for non-implementation of the earlier policy and talk to different departments, PSUs and agencies before making suggestions, it said.
Drawing land issues, the UCCI said while youths plan to start new ventures in MSME Sectors, availability of required stands as a burning problem before them. The proposed taskforce would either find out the ways or prevail upon IDCO to build new industrial estates for the MSME units.
Similarly, in the backdrop of MSME associations urging the Finance Department to rationalize the VAT structure for MSME units in comparison with the neighbouring States, the proposed taskforce can provide good suggestions in this regard. The MSME units would be able to market their products outside the State, the letter argued.
The copies of the letter have also been sent to Industries Minister, MSME Minister, Chief Secretary, Industry Secretary, MSME Secretary and IDCO Chairman, informed UCCI president Ramesh Mahapatra.