The Ministry of Small Scale Industries organised a SSI Convention and presentation of National Awards function to SSI Entrepreneurs on 30th of August, 2001 at Convention Hall, Hotel Ashok, New Delhi. A comprehensive policy package had been announced for the SSI sector on 30th August 2000 which provided a substantial measure of support to small businesses in India. It was then decided that the Ministry would commemorate 30th August of each year as ‘SSI Day". The programme The programme in the year 2001 was divided into three sessions, i.e. Inauguration, Distribution of National Awards and an Open House Discussion.
The programme started with the SSI Song followed by a laser show. The theme of the Convention was Development and Promotion of Small Scale Industries in the North Eastern Region. A special display of the products manufactured by Small Scale Industrial Units from seven North Eastern States were displayed.
The Home Minister Shri L.K.Advani inaugurated the convention and presented National Awards to SSI Entrepreneurs for excellent performance in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Quality Products and Research and Development. In his inaugural address Shri Advani stressed the need for restructuring the SSI Sector and be prepared to face the new realities in the National and International economy, specially in the context of WTO. The Small Scale Units are required to increase the efficiency of their production and marketing to reduce the cost and to improve the quality and range of their products so as to be able to compete with the imported products. During the programme, a web portal of the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) was launched by Hon’ble Home Minister to provide on line connectivity of SIDO with promotional Organisations like NSIC, TBSE etc. The portal is hosted at www.smallindustryindia.com and hosts extensive static, dynamic and interactive content. The Hon’ble Home Minister also released special publications brought out for the purpose.
The Central Government has taken a number of initiatives for the development of small-scale industries in the North Eastern States. Addressing the Convention, the Minister of Small Scale Industries, Smt. Vasundhara Raje, said that a task force comprising of the State Ministers in-charge of Small scale Industries has been setup specifically for this region. A Tool Room is being setup at Guwahati, NSIC and NEDFI are setting up offices in all the States, Finance Ministry has notified industrial estates under the Central Excise Act in Arunachal Pradesh.
Further, she stated that the comprehensive package announced by the Prime Minister last year has met most of the needs of the sector. The SSI Sector accounts for 35% direct exports. The growth rate of SSI Sector in 2000-01 was 8.09% as against 4.9% of Industrial Sector and GDP growth of 6%. The SSI Sector provides employment to 18.6 million persons.
She regretted that the credit delivery was still far from satisfactory and announced a scheme of awards for those Banks that provide substantial credit to the SSI Sector. The modalities of the scheme are being finalized and would be implemented from the next year.
The Open House Discussion was initiated through two presentations – one on anti-dumping procedures and the other on industrialization in the North East. The presentations evoked keen interest amongst the participants and were followed by a lively discussion. Subsequent to these sessions on anti-dumping and North East, a general discussion on small industries in India ensued with focus on credit delivery.
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