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NATIONAL MANUFACTURING PORTAL V KRISHNAMURTHY LAUNCHES MAJOR INITIATIVE TO
MAKE INDIA SMES GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE THROUGH IT
Date : 19 Jun 2007
Location : New Delhi
A National Manufacturing Portal – the first of its kind in the country – was launched at a function in New Delhi this morning 19th June, 2007 by Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) as a major new initiative which will enhance the competitiveness of India’s manufacturing sector especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through the use of information technology and enable them to compete more effectively in today’s globalised environment. The Portal (www.nmcc-vikas.gov.in or www.nmcc-vikas.in) has been created by NMCC with active support from the Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Limited as a part of the “ Project Vikas” which is aimed at making the Indian SME sector competitive and to help establish “Made in India” as a global brand.
Highlighting the importance of the Portal, Dr. Krishnamurthy said:
“Through an ICT based intervention model, Project Vikas will empower India’s SME sector and give it a competitive edge in the global market. NMCC is delighted to partner with Microsoft in this Public Private Partnership endeavour to improve the overall competitiveness of Indian manufacturing through skill enhancement. Project Vikas aims to develop knowledge networks through the creation of R & D linkages, capacity building with regional training institutes, sharing of best practices and enable linkage with the SME cluster eco-system. We at NMCC are convinced that with suitable inputs of information technology, the competitiveness of Indian SMEs will significantly improve”.
Elaborating on Project Vikas and partnership with NMCC as a model of Public-Private Partnership, Mr. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman/Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd said: “In today’s extremely competitive global environment, it is imperative that the Indian manufacturing sector gears up and draws out a winning strategy for making a global footprint while achieving domestic successes. ICT can be a critical enabler for bringing about this leap into the next phase of growth. Driven by this sentiment, we have worked with the NMCC to deliver on our Project Vikas programme, which entails a holistic and scalable five year action plan to enhance the competitiveness of India’s SME sector by leveraging ICT”. Project Vikas fits in perfectly with the Microsoft Unlimited Potential – its global commitment to close the digital divide by creating new products and programmes that would help bring social and economic opportunity to an estimated 5 billion people across the globe who are currently not realising the benefits of technology, he added.
Highlights of the National Manufacturing Portal include: Knowledge base on different manufacturing sectors/sub-sectors; Resources on Indian and international clusters; intellectual property rights (IPR) information to achieve niche competitiveness; Know the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through MSME Data Bank; Latest articles and publications in the area of competitiveness; Market information to improve market access; Credit and finance related areas for SMEs including various policies, schemes etc; Empowering SMEs through ICT – such as how to analyse ICT needs at firm and cluster levels-A to Z. IT and VAT handbooks on hardware and software, important forms for taxes etc; Database of different clusters, updated directory information and applications to find companies and clusters on India map; Central and state government Industrial Acts, policies, schemes, incentives etc for the manufacturing sector; and related useful links.
In his special address, Mr. V. Govindarajan, Member Secretary/NMCC, stated that the National Strategy for Manufacturing drawn by the NMCC has been accepted by the Government for implementation and that enabling SMEs to achieve competitiveness through ICT was one of the key elements of this strategy. He further indicated that the NMCC has been engaging with all the Ministries as well as with state governments concerned in firming up the programme of action and implementing the strategy. The industry associations are also involved in the implementation of their side of the programme. Specific issues requiring immediate action have been taken up through the institutional mechanism of the High Level Committee on Manufacturing set up under the Chairmanship of the Hon’ble Prime Minister through the Empowered Sub-Committee of the HLCM for resolution of the policy issues etc.
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