The Confederation of Indian Industry submitted its recommendations to the State Government on Friday for its forthcoming Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) policy.
‘Welcoming the Government move, past chairman of CII Uttarakhand State council said that MSMEs with their geographical spread play a key role in distributed regional development. They are also drivers of employment creation. He added that in a mountain State like Uttarakhand where only a few pockets are suitable for large enterprises, MSMEs and specially MSEs can play a key role in driving development in the mountains.
Elaborating on what the ‘spirit’ of the forthcoming MSME policy should be, Berry said that CII strongly recommends that the policy should follow the following key principles- facilitator role for the Government, consultative and a partnership approach with the industry, strong focus on development of supporting infrastructure – both physical and soft infrastructure, cluster development, focus on enhancing competitiveness and recognising excellence.
The recommendations in line with the above principles make detailed suggestions on addressing key challenges faced by the MSMEs – including availability of land at competitive rates, finance & keeping pace with technology changes to remain competitive in an increasingly globalised economy. CII is of the view that while MSMEs need to be provided fiscal incentives, like in most of the other states, they also need to be provided infrastructure support – both physical infrastructure and soft infrastructure. This could be best achieved by following a cluster approach. Simplification of procedures will enable the MSMEs, which are mostly entrepreneur managed, to focus on competitiveness and market related issues.
CII has also suggested that the synergies should be drawn from the mega industrial policy in terms of focus sectors and promotion of vendor parks.