| Speaking at the South Zone Summit on 'Global Competitiveness "� Road Map for SMEs' organised by FICCI and FKCCI, Karnataka industries minister P G R Sindhia said: "It is time that all you entrepreneurs thought of new strategies to make SMEs more competitive in the changed global economic scenario. SMEs should address issues concerning technology and quality upgradation, financing and marketing. We will suitably assist you after we get a roadmap for empowering SMEs." |
| He added that in the era of liberalisation, globalisation and the WTO regime, SMEs face both opportunities and threats. |
| "Industrialists should discover strategies to explore markets for their products in a competitive world. There are many opportunities for SMEs in sectors like food processing, tourism and healthcare," he noted. |
| The SMEs and agro-industries in the state have been exporting goods worth Rs 22,000 crore a year, he added. |
| Sindhia also highlighted the fact that the state and Centre are in favour of reforms in taxation laws and industrial and agricultural policies. |
| Commenting on the developments in the industrial scenario in Karnataka, he said: "Special economic zones will be set up in Mangalore and Hassan and the Centre is expected to clear the proposal this month. Work on the international airport at Devanahalli will begin this month and on the Metro Rail project by the year-end. Airports in Mangalore, Gulbarga, Hassan, Hubli, Belgaum and Mysore will be upgraded in the next few years" |
| S N Misra, additional secretary to the Union government and development commissioner, Small-Scale Industries, through a communiqué at the event said that the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India, through various committees, have been reviewing the situation regarding the availability of credit to SMEs. |
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