Business EconomyPosted at: Feb 22 2019 6:10PM

Kolkata, Feb 22 (UNI) Chairman of West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (WBSIDC Ltd) Biplab Roychowdhury on Friday stated that 60 per cent of products worldwide emerge out of MSME sectors.
Speaking at the third edition of the Annual Manufacturing and MSME Conclave titled “Long Term Approach towards Quality Manufacturing with MSME Focus” and “Annual MSME Awards”, organized by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) today, Mr Roychowdhury said, “ China has gone miles ahead in developing its MSME strength which sadly we have not yet reached. We are still in the contemplative stage. It’s high time that we upgrade ourselves and modernise, innovate and bring up standards to meet foreign markets.”
“ Unless we compete globally we will lag behind. I really laud this effort of The Bengal Chamber to organise such a platform for MSMEs and Manufacturing sector. At the end of day have to scale up quality of our products and services if we wish to internationalise it,” he said.
President of the Bengal Chamber Indrajit Sen at the opening session said, with this perspective in view, the objective of our programme is to understand the vision of the manufacturing units, particularly the MSME manufacturing units and to prepare a “Way forward” on what would be the long term approach of the manufacturing industries with MSMEs in particular in achieving Quality Manufacturing for the industry at large which would help in further developments and growth of the entire engineering/manufacturing fraternity of our country.
The Bengal Chamber stands to support MSMEs to reach global standards to get industrial resurgence of Bengal. We have already made an initiative by launching a Centre for Excellence for MSMEs in a joint program with the Indo German Chamber of Commerce to import world class skilling and technology training”, Mr Sen stated.
At the panel discussion on future markets and opportunities for the MSME Sector Vice Admiral Pradip Kumar Chatterjee, (Retd), Former Commander – in – Chief, Andaman Nicobar Command, Indian Navy, UnionMinistry of Defence, stated that while India is a leading importer of defence equipment, the sector also offers huge potential for MSMEs to play a major role.
The key factors MSMEs have to seek in marine defence warfare sector is their inherent strengths and also the research and knowhow to keep abreast with the life cycle of equipments to tap the potential to manufacture and vend the parts that need replacement. Also they can identify the spares or other parts that are generic to any category of vessels and can use this knowledge to come up to meet the specifications in terms of demand and standard, he said.
Chief Procurement (Bulk Commodities) Tata Steel Limited R.K Singh said India is already exporting about 80 per cent of two wheelers to the rest of the world. Global players look to India in having contractual arrangement with MSMEs where manufacturing is concerned.
The Basic equipment is imported and subsequent spares are manufactured in India. And this allows the indigenous MSME sectors a field of opportunity to upgrade skills and technical know how to ultimately develop themselves to meet world class standards,” he said.
Prominent participants were Commodore Ratnakar Ghosh, IN (Retd), Former Director (Shipbuilding), Garden Reach, Lt General Aniruddha Chakraborty, (Retd), Indian Army, Union Ministry of Defence; Ayudh Bhusan Dr Rajiv Chakraborty, IOFS (Retd), Former Sr General Manager, Gun and Shell Factory, Cossipore, Ordnance Factory Board, Union Ministry of Defence; Sanjay S Sahni, Chief of marketing & sales (BPS), Tata Steel Limited; Dr Suman K Mukerjee, Director General, Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC), among others.
Manufacturing industry in India has in areas like defence, steel, automobiles, power, cement, fertilizers, etc. . India is expected to emerge as the 5th largest manufacturing country in the world. With its more than a billion consumers and increasing purchasing power, many foreign countries have set up or have plans to set up their manufacturing units here and the future looks bright in terms of FDI and employability.
The MSMEs form a major part of the engineering/manufacturing industries and they contribute substantially for the development and growth of the manufacturing sector of the country.
According to government data, West Bengal has the highest number of MSMEs in the country with 52,69,814 units, with Bengal accounting for 11.62 per cent of micro, small and medium enterprises, the most among the top 10 states of the country.
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