Southern States - Kerala   

Govt. to focus on traditional industries: Minister

By T. Ramavarman

THRISSUR JAN. 21. Buoyed by the `more than expected success' of the just-concluded Global Investor Meet (GIM) in creating an image for Kerala as an investor-friendly State for major projects, the Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayan, said that the Government would now lay special thrust on the development of traditional industries.

Talking to The Hindu here, the Minister pointed out that the traditional sector had an important role to play in the State for employment generation and for the economy as a whole.

``What the Government aims at is an even mix of the traditional and major modern industries. Now with the success of the GIM to create a climate congenial for the growth of big industries in the State, there will be similar efforts to pep up the traditional sector,'' he said.

He said that apart from wooing investments, two aspects that required special attention in the case of traditional industries was their modernisation and ensuring market for their products. Modernisation, however, has to be done without displacing the people in that sector.

There will also be efforts to boost up the small-scale sector as a whole and here, marketing and packaging will receive special attention.

Another area where the Government will intervene will be the units run by the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) of women. When his attention was drawn to reports that GIM could not achieve much of a breakthrough in the infrastructural areas or in sectors like agro-processing units, the Minister said, "GIM is not the end, it is only a beginning. We will give approval for all the feasible projects that will come in future.''

Replying to questions, the Minister conceded that there were some constraints in the implementation of the Express Highway project because of the huge investment involved. But there were some proposals emerging to tide over those constraints.

"One proposal is to explore the possibility of the Government bearing 60 per cent of the investment. But under the present financial condition, this will be a tough proposition. Another is to explore the possibility of the formation of a consortium of financial institutions to extend credit for the project," he said.

The Finance Minister expressed confidence that the advent of the investments proposed at GIM would infuse more dynamism into the economy of the State and enhance the financial position of the Government.

According to him, an investment of about Rs. 1,000 crores was made in the education sector of the State last year.

"Health is emerging as a major avenue of investment in the State, which has a particular strength in the traditional treatment system," he said.

Mr. Sankaranarayanan said as per the information available to him, the Centre was likely to transfer the rights of several taxing service sectors to the State.

This would be of great significance to the State, where the service sector has grown remarkably in the last 10 years.

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