Ludhiana, September 16 For helping small and micro enterprises (SMEs) during slowdown, the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) organised an awareness programme for industrialists here. Upkar Singh Ahuja, President, CICU, said the main objective behind the programme was to upgrade the level of SMEs of Ludhiana. He said owners should always look for improvement, better ambiance in the factory and 20 per cent of resources should be used to develop new products. “New ideas, innovation and developments help the SMEs to achieve the next level,” he said. Pankaj Sharma, General Secretary, CICU, as moderator, said it was becoming increasingly difficult for SMEs to grow and they had lack of knowledge of products which they were manufacturing. SMEs can grow by using better technology, better management and efficiency. Jatinder Singh, Endico Power Tools, said customer satisfaction would always help businesses to grow and by branding and offering best-quality products SMEs could grow. Major Singh, Jaewoo Machines, said there were various types of expensive machines available in the market which SMEs could not afford. “Industrialists should use cheap machines, which can work same as expensive ones do. Resources and low-cost automation can help the SMEs in achieving the goals,” he added. Sarabjot Singh Saini, Technical Expert, GIZ, gave a presentation on MSME innovation. He said, “Many projects in India are being run to develop new products and help the MSMEs. A group of engineering students are working in these projects and developing techniques of low-cost automation.” He further said GIZ was in process of making the same group of students in Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, to help MSMEs. RK Parmar, Assistant Director, MSME-DI, said the Centre had decided to continue the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme in which MSMEs could take benefits of Rs 15 lakh subsidy for purchasing machinery of Rs 1 crore.

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