Govt announces fresh initiative for Cluster Dev Programme

NEW DELHI: Government today announced fresh initiatives for its "Cluster Development Programme" at over 21 places in the country to encourage Small Enterprises and asked the SSIs to form associations and consortia to develop greater marketing niche.
"We have launched Cluster Development Initiatives in 21 clusters and plan to bring 20 more in this programme," Union Small Scale Industries Minister C P Thakur said after a meeting on ''SSI Cluster Development initiatives: Role of public/Private Partnership'' here.
Encouraging Public-Private partnerships in various sectors is a key theme in the new agenda for economic reforms in the country and it applies to the realm of cluster development also, the Minister said.
"We saw the success of this concept in Tirupur where industries, without depending on Government, solved problems of infrastructure, skill development and other services.
Earlier, SSI Secretary B S Minhas said "new strategies like formulation of networks and consortia of SSIs to ensure cheaper procurement of raw material, access to bigger marketing events like trade fairs and engagement of common consultants for techno-marketing solutions to achieve cumulative growth."
He said the traditional approach for support to the SSI sector in the developing countries has been focussed on the ''supply side''. However, it was realised of late that this approach is grossly inadequate to take on the challenges of a globally competitive scenario. It led to demand side interventions requiring the SSIs to undergo a paradigm shift in identification and fulfilment of the needs of their customer, Minhas added.