Newsletter-69::Volume-6::Issue-5
:::: IN THIS ISSUE ::::

OUR INITIATIVES
  • Food Technology Summit Pune

KNOW YOUR CLUSTER

  • Sports Goods Cluster- Meerut
INFORMATION SHARING CORNER
  • Micro Credit
CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT-ISSUES AND POLICIES
  • Welfare schemes for weavers highlighted

  • ASSOCHAM to bring investment worth more than Rs 1 lakh cr in Chhattisgarh

  • People should maintain loan clearance habit asserts Radhabinod

  • Manipur to set up handloom & handicraft Park

  • Poor infrastructure cripples MSME clusters

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ISSUES

  • Ministry asks companies to put environment policies at place

  • India’s Clean Revolution promises employment to 10.5 million
  • Environment conservation month at the Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTs)

  • Use of latest tech can boost higher edu: Experts
  • India slips five places in global IT rankings
  • ICT centres to be set up in Ajmer schools

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)

  • India to stick to its agreement under TRIPS in WTO
  • Need for innovative and creative minds asserted
  • Protection of IPR improves capital investment
  • New public service announcement aunched to raise intellectual property theft awareness

MICRO, SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMEs)

  • Ventur East to offer financial assistance to MSME
  • Orissa govt in favour of a separate MSME department
  • Lack of institutional credit biting UP MSMEs
  • Move to promote micro and small enterprises
  • PSUs should procure min 20% of requirement from SMEs: Minister

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

  • Garment Technology Expo
  • Fashionista Fashion & Lifestyle Exhibition-Coimbatore
  • Food Technology Show - Hyderabad
- EDITORIAL SUPPORT -

• Saraswati Rawat

• B P Singh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT - ISSUES & POLICIES

::: IN FOCUS :::
Welfare schemes for weavers highlighted

VARANASI: Under the Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme for Varanasi, a buyer-seller meet and meeting of handloom stakeholders was organised here on Monday.
The programme was organised by the office of development commissioner for handlooms, Union ministry of textiles and UP department of handlooms and textiles to highlight the features of handloom mega cluster scheme and discuss about the problems of weavers.
Addressing the programme, Rita Menon, Union secretary (textiles) highlighted the programmes and policies of the Central government for handloom weavers. Besides, projects like development of handloom clusters, she also spoke about welfare programmes like health insurance for weavers. Speaking on the occasion, development commissioner (handlooms) R N Chaubey made a detailed presentation about the mega cluster scheme and its benefits.

more

ASSOCHAM to bring investment worth more than Rs 1 lakh cr in Chhattisgarh :-
...............................................................................
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) is planning to bring investment worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore in the state of Chhattisgarh. more...

People should maintain loan clearance habit asserts Radhabinod :-
...............................................................................
IMPHAL, April 27: A one day awareness programme and distribution of cheques to 24 weaver groups of Thangmeiband was held today at Ibudhou Naothingkhong Pakhangba Shanglen organized by Kabrabam Leikai Handloom Cluster. more...

Manipur to set up handloom & handicraft Park :-
...............................................................................
Manipur Commerce and Industries Minister, Y. Erabot recently stated that, with a view to develop handloom and handicrafts, the State Government and the Commerce and Industry Department are planning to establish a textile park at Loitangkhunou. more...


'Poor infrastructure cripples MSME clusters' :-
...............................................................................
Development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) clusters in India has been crippled by a number of challenges, particularly lack of adequate infrastructure and technology, Federation of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) Secretary General Anil Bhardwaj told SME Times. more

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ISSUES

Ministry asks companies to put environment policies at place :-
...............................................................................
New Delhi: The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on Thursday urged all corporate houses and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to have in place corporate environmental policies for the protection of environment. more...

India’s Clean Revolution promises employment to 10.5 million :-
...............................................................................
US President Barack Obama is banking on clean energy to create over 800,000 jobs by 2012. India’s emerging green jobs sector too holds out the promise of 10,500,000 jobs by the end of the decade as investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies soar. more...

Environment conservation month at the Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon :-
...............................................................................
The environment today is becoming less capable of sustaining the growth impact of our economic activities. With more and more industrialization and corporates eating into the calm and scenic nature, lesser is the attention given to conserve the environment. more...

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Use of latest tech can boost higher edu: Experts :-
...............................................................................
VARANASI: The National Mission on Education through information communication technology (ICT) promises to change the quality of higher education in the country, said Pradeep Varma, advisor, IIT-Rajasthan and TERI University. more

India slips five places in global IT rankings :-
...............................................................................
India has slipped by five places on the INSEAD and World Economic Forum’s Annual Global Information Technology Report, despite the country’s thrust on IT for inclusive growth and modernisation. more...

ICT centres to be set up in Ajmer schools :-
...............................................................................
JAIPUR: In a bid to make government schools in rural areas of Ajmer technological sound, the department of Information Technology (DIT) has announced to establish Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) centres in 247 out of the 480 secondary and senior secondary schools as a pilot project. more

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPRs)

India to stick to its agreement under TRIPS in WTO :-
...............................................................................
The Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Anand Sharma, reiterated India's stand to not accept any decision over and above its agreement under TRIPS in WTO at a CII event here today. more

Need for innovative and creative minds asserted :-
...............................................................................
Intellectual Property facility Centre, Manipur and Manipur Science and Technology Council (MASTEC) in collaboration with the All Manipur Industrialists Foundation, Imphal observed the World Intellectual Property day- 2011 at MSME- Development Institute, Takyel Industrial Estate, Imphal, today. more

‘Protection of IPR improves capital investment’ :-
...............................................................................
Better protection of Intellectual Property Rights leads to increased capital investment. This was said by Judge Delissa A Ridgway, Judge, US Court of International Trade at a discussion on intellectual property rights here at the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) on Wednesday, said a press release issued by the FJA.  more...

New public service announcement launched to raise intellectual property theft awareness :-
...............................................................................
WASHINGTON – To coincide with World Intellectual Property (IP) Day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has launched a newpublic service announcement (PSA) that aims to raise awareness of the economic impact of IP theft. more..

MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMEs)

Ventur East to offer financial assistance to MSME :-
...............................................................................
HYDERABAD: As part of its `10 crore BYST Growth Fund, city-based VenturEast Micro-Equity Managers (VMEM) on Monday said it was planning to offer financial assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Hyderabad. The Fund intends to invest in about 30-35 MSMEs over the next 18 months. more

Orissa govt in favour of a separate MSME department :-
...............................................................................
Bhubaneswar, Apr 21 (PTI) Realising that only small industries could provide adequate employment, Orissa government today said it was seriously considering to set up a separate department to deal with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). "A committee is set up to examine into different aspects associated with MSME sector. more...

Lack of institutional credit biting UP MSMEs :-
...............................................................................
The lack of institutional credit has been a major impediment to the growth of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh has over three million MSME units contributing almost 60 per cent of the state’s industrial output. more...

Move to promote micro and small enterprises :-
...............................................................................
TIRUCHI: The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has empanelled Periyar Technology Business Incubator (TBI) attached to the Periyar Maniammai University, Vallam, as category-1 ‘Udyami Mitra' (Entrepreneur's friend) under the Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana introduced for promoting and hand-holding the Micro and Small Enterprises.   more...

PSUs should procure min 20% of requirement from SMEs: Minister :-
...............................................................................
NEW DELHI: Insisting that the Public Sector Units (PSUs) should procure at least 20 per cent of their requirements from the 2.6 crore small and medium units, the MSME Ministry has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in the matter.  more...

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

  • Garment Technology Expo | more |
  • Fashionista Fashion & Lifestyle Exhibition-Coimbatore| more |
  • Food Technology Show - Hyderabad | more |


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    :::: OUR INITIATIVES ::::


    Food Technology Summit Pune

    ACDS in association with NAFARI conducted a one day technology summit for micro, small and medium enterprises involved in food and processing. The summit aimed to showcase suitable and appropriate technologies for food processing sector and companies involved in food, fruits and vegetable processing. The event was organised at Le Meridian Hotel, Pune, on April 28, 2011. The main objective was to provide a single platform for exchange of information on trade and technologies. Identifying current commercial technologies, innovation in food, fruits and vegetable processing were the main topics covered.

    CDM Minal Rajkarne, experts from NCL, CFTRI, CIPHET and SIDBI among others spoke on various topics. Mr Narayan Hegde the trustee and principal advisor of BAIF Development Research Foundation was the chief guest. The event was open for research institutions, industry experts, scientists. Professionals, corporate delegates and entrepreneurs looking forward to invest in the food industry sector. An interactive session for visitors with panelists was held to create a roadmap to avail appropriate technology.

     
    :::: KNOW YOUR CLUSTER ::::
    Sports Goods Cluster- Meerut
    Meerut is a city and a municipal corporation in the Meerut District in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Meerut City is known for many types of industries. It is the second largest supplier of sports goods in India.

    The Sports Goods cluster in Meerut has 350 units, employing more than 16000 persons and producing goods worth Rs 400 crores. The major products are items related to cricket, boxing gloves, football badminton and tennis rackets. However only items of cricket and boxing are of match quality. The cluster comprises of both SMEs and household units. The SMEs are largely located in the sports goods complex. The major items that are exported from the cluster are inflatable balls, hockey sticks, hockey balls, cricket bats and balls, boxing equipment, fishing equipment and different kinds of protective equipment. The cluster is growing at a rate of 8 percent annually for the last few years. Meerut sports goods industry contributes almost 25 percent of India's sports goods export. The cluster draws technical support from the Process and Product Development Centre (PPDC) for Sports Goods, which is a central government organization. The only association in the cluster is All India Sports Goods Association.
     
    :::: INFO CORNER ::::
    Micro Credit

    Micro Credit is the provision of thrift, credit and other financial services and products of very small amount to the poors in rural, semi-urban and urban areas so as to enable them to raise their income levels and improve living standards. Micro Credit Institutions are those which provide these facilities. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor.

    As per the interest rates of micro credits are concerned , the interest rates applicable to loans given by banks to micro credit organizations or by the micro credit organizations to Self-Help Groups/member-beneficiaries has been left to their discretion. However, the interest rate ceiling applicable to direct small loans given by banks to individual borrowers continues to remain in force.

    Banks have the freedom to formulate their own lending norms keeping in view ground realities. However they are expected to devise appropriate loan and savings products and the related terms and conditions including size of the loan, unit cost, unit size, maturity period, grace period, margins, etc. Such credit covers not only consumption and production loans for various farm and non-farm activities of the poor but also include their other credit needs such as housing and shelter improvements.
    		 

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