The Hindu Business Line : National study project to focus on SME growth

Hyderabad June 22 How to encourage entrepreneurship among the weaker sections of the populations, especially the SC, ST, minorities and women will be the focus of a national project being taken up by the National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Nimsme). The project is expected to provide valuable inputs to the State Government in identifying entrepreneurship schemes that will help these sections of people.

The Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME) would be facilitating the national study.

Stating this, Mr Chukka Kondaiah, Principal Director of Nimsme (formerly Nisiet) told newspersons that the renaming of the Nisiet was in tune with the change in the Ministry's name as well as with the MSMED Act, 2006.

For Nimsme, which played a major role in ushering in a variety of training programmes to create entrepreneurship among the people over the past four decades, the mandate in the changing national industrial scenario and globalisation was to infuse the SME sector with technology, training and consultancy.

Initiative

A major initiative taken up was the creation of the National Resource Centre for Cluster Development and the focus on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Both are targeted to promote rapid developments and protect rights. During fiscal 2006-07, the institute earned Rs 10.29 crore up from Rs 8 crore the previous year, Mr Kondiah said.

Workshop

The institute is organising a national workshop on IPR with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) during August for the SME sector. About 40 participants are expected. It has also provided technical consultancy to about 20 clusters across the country.

With the MSME sector contributing 39 per cent of the country's manufacturing output and 34 per cent exports, employment to 30 million and the total of 12.34 million units constituting 91 per cent of the total industrial units, the potential role in the growing economy is high and consequently, Nimsme can look forward to an expanded opportunity, he said.