No additional sops for MP SSIs

To allay the fears of the small scale sector in the state, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said big companies like Reliance Industries should stay away from small businesses like vegetable vending. This should be left to the small-scale or tiny sectors, he said.

Chouhan was addressing a convention, "Laghu Udyog Panchayat", organised last week to address problems of the small-scale industry, at his residence.

Although he discussed some sops that he had earlier announced for small-scale industries, the panchayat did not mention any benefits for the Sendhwa cotton mills, which are on the verge of closure, the Jabalpur defence ancillary industries and the coal mines ancillaries of Madhya Pradesh.

Despite a bank credit of Rs 600 crore to the small-scale industry, its survival in the state still hinges on the Rs 325-crore government business.

Bureaucracy and redtapism are the main hurdles in the growth of the sector, the convention observed. "The single-window system has become another window for clearance of small-scale industry projects," Chouhan said.

Issuance of notifications, poor financial assistance, cumbersome documentation, and stringent, redundant and vague laws had hindered the growth of the sector, MP Laghu Udyog President RS Goswami said.

Issues regarding poor participation of women in the small- scale industry were also raised at the convention. Problems of high power tariff, multi-tier tax system, poor development in the industrial areas of Banmore (Gwalior), Govindpura (Bhopal), Jabalpur, Mandideep and Pithampur and the limestone industries of Katni were also discussed. There are around 11,000 sick units in the state.

Chouhan announced that the sick unit revival scheme Udyog Mitra Yojana will continue for another year and the small scale expansion limit for availing concession and sops will be reduced from Rs 5 crore to Rs 25 lakh.

Also the store purchase and land allotment rules will be altered by August 31 this year.

Last month also Chouhan had said he would not allow big companies to eat into the business of small vendors in his state.