Unido plans to boost productivity

In order to boost productivity in leather, footwear and automotive components related SMEs and to promote tie ups between Indian and Italian companies in the same space, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) has drawn up a three-year programme for establishment of mutual credit guarantee schemes, cluster twining and foreign investment and technology promotion across many cities in the country.

The Italian government has allotted Euro 3 million for the project titled Consolidated Project for SME Development in India, which will be implemented by Unido.

The first agreement in this regard was signed between Italy-based Union Camere, which is a leading chamber of commerce and the Indian Shoe Federation in Chennai in October.

The agreement entails cooperation in the field of footwear, in which, Italy has expertise developed over years of experience. As many as 25 SMEs in Chennai have been chosen for the purpose.

"The project seeks to make Indian SMEs globally competitive through sharing of knowledge and best practices of companies from abroad. It will be done through training as well as transfer of technology from Italian SME clusters to the Indian ones," said Bruno Valanzuolo of Unido, who is the chief technical advisor, Consolidated Project for SME Development in India.

Similar projects are also being lined up in other clusters across India. Auto-components SMEs in Pune and National Capital Region of Delhi will benefit from similar programmes, which will be launched next year.

Through Cluster Twining, competitiveness and sustainability of existing, but presently underachieving, SME clusters will be enhanced through linkages between Indian and Italian SMEs.

Moreover, investment and technology promotion activities will seek to increase competitiveness of Indian SMEs, through acquisition of foreign technology as well as investment.

In addition, the mutual credit guarantee schemes will set up a financial mechanism to facilitate the flows of capital towards SME projects.