The Hindu Business Line : `Changes in policy, mindset needed to make SMEs vibrant'

THE Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has asked all the stakeholders in the economy to join hands to make small and medium enterprises (SMEs) globally competitive.

Addressing the CII's (AP) silver jubilee annual day, Mr K.K.M. Kutty, Chairman of CII (South), said changes in policy and mindset are needed to make SMEs vibrant.

"We need to bring down cost of finance," Mr Kutty, who is also the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Sealings and Joints, said.

He was speaking on `Excellence in small and medium enterprise' at the public session on `Cooperation for competitiveness: Racing to the future, building on excellence.'

Stating that SMEs formed the backbone of several developed and developing countries, he said obsolete technology is the main hurdle for improving productivity and competitiveness. SMEs should go for low-cost technology that could enhance competitiveness.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr R. Natarajan, Chairman of All-Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE), said the new millennium is marked by change and the rate of change. "People could not have imagined certain events like unification of Germany, collapse of the Soviet Union, end of apartheid and 9/11 a couple of decades ago."

Stating that nature of work in the future is in for a phenomenal change, he felt that more and more people would take to self-employment.

According to him, nature of imparting education had undergone a sea change, thanks to the Web.But the moot question is `Will technology replace teachers?'"Any teacher who can be replaced by technology deserved to be replaced," he quipped.