7th National Cluster Summit: Emphasized Skill Development & Capacity Building for SMEs

Skill development is a priority for Government of India. On these lines, 15 new Technology Centers are set to scale up the competitiveness building of SMEs through various SME Clusters were announced by Mr Madhav Lal, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Government of India at the inaugural session of the 7^th National Cluster Summit at New Delhi. The theme of this year’s summit is “Scaling Up Clusters: Fostering Growth and Employment in SMEs.”

The original CII Cluster Competitiveness Roadmap has been customized to provide accelerated results to participating companies. The CII-Avantha Centre for Competitiveness for SMEs with a national footprint has for over a decade dedicated its services for building competitiveness of Indian SMEs. A typical cluster is spread over 12-24 months.

Guided by our time-tested cluster development process, the CII-ZED Clusters will focus on fast-tracked competence building of the Indian Manufacturing Sector through intervention in areas like Discipline, Team Work, Zero Defect, Zero Effect on Environment and Sustenance Culture in a power-packed handholding of about 6-24 months.

Mr Harbhajan Singh, Director General, National Productivity Council said, “The process of formation of Clusters using the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme must be simplified.” He also said it is important to propagate and motivate the MSME sector.”

Mr. Yogesh Munjal, Chairman, National Cluster Summit also talked about simplification of all processes. He said simple processes can help in making the Cluster approach for enhancing competitiveness go viral.

Dr. Sarita Nagpal, Principal Advisor, CII proposed that companies must be aspired to take on the path of competitiveness. ZED Cluster companies must be given incentives of recognition possibly through the PMOs website. These inputs were greatly appreciated by the senior dignitaries present; they said that CII has always been proactive in its vision that has helped the Indian SMEs grow.

Sessions such as ‘Skill Development and Skilled India; Challenges in SMEs’, ‘Augmenting International Business through time tested Indo-German Manager Training Programme (IGMTP)’, ‘Scaling Up HR Practices - Fostering Growth and Employment in SMEs’ were also held today.

Sessions planned for the second day of the Summit, 30 October, are on Energy Efficiency, Manufacturing Excellence through Energy Conservation, Automation and Technology, Role of BMOs in promoting SCP practices in SMEs, Facilitating Last Mile Reach to Finances, Achieving Zero Defect, Zero Effect. The valedictory will be graced by senior Government dignitaries.

The National Cluster Summit is the annual flagship event of the CII-Avantha Centre for Competitiveness for SMEs that aims at giving a new direction to the cluster movement and enable networking amongst Indian SMEs and their Eco System. The highlights of the event are the Kaizen Gallery Exhibition and Cluster Championship and Kaizen Awards which will be given away to companies tomorrow who have excelled through Cluster Approach.