Trade centre to assist SSIs in Peenya set up

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 15. To help small-scale industries (SSIs) improve their business, the Peenya Industries Association (PIA) has set up the Peenya Trade Centre at a cost of Rs. 70 lakhs. The centre will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, on Wednesday.

The PIA President, Mr. Prakash N. Raikar, told presspersons here on Tuesday that the centre would assist the SSIs in marketing their products in the domestic and the international markets. It would provide space for window display of products and also for conferences, make available information related to industries on the Internet and CD-ROM and would be equipped with a modern telecommunications centre.

He said the centre would not be driven by the profit motive, and hence, it would charge a little above the cost of services to sustain itself. The project had been funded through a term loan of Rs. 16 lakhs by the Small Industries Development Board of India and Rs. 20 lakhs in grants from the State and Union governments, and financial institutions. The remaining Rs. 34 lakhs had been raised from contributions from the members of PIA.

Inadequate marketing facility had affected the SSIs, he said and pointed out that nearly 50 per cent of the SSIs had been rendered sick. In Peenya alone around 40 per cent of the SSIs were sick units. This had happened in the post-liberalisation period as many of the major companies on whom the SSIs depended were themselves in trouble.

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Section  : Southern States
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