India's policies for its micro and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are most appropriate for developing countries and are viewed as a role model especially in Africa, participants said while responding to a presentation on “SMEs – The Indian Perspective” by Shri Jawhar Sircar, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, at the first International Conference on “India-Africa Cooperation in Industry, Trade and Investment”.
The five-day Conference, organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in cooperation with the Government of India under the banner of the UNIDO Centre for South-South Industrial Cooperation (UCSSIC), was inaugurated by Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, on 10th of September 2007.
Shri Sircar said the MSMEs had emerged as a vibrant sector of the Indian economy, with the 12.5 million MSMEs employing over 30 million people and accounting for 50 % of the country's industrial production and 45 % of its exports.
Total exports from Indian MSMEs were valued at US $ 56 billion (based on 2005 figures), he added. ”MSMEs were expected to grow at the rate of 13% and generate additional 1.3 million jobs per annum during the Plan period 2007-2012”, he said.
In a detailed presentation, Shri Sircar pointed out that MSME development as a tool of Industrial policy aims at: generation of employment; dispersal of industry to reduceregional disparities; utilization of local skills and resources; and to meet local demands, as feasible.
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