Third CCC Meeting

Mr. Girish Sethi, Project Coordinator and Director IEEST, TERI, New Delhi, welcomed the participants and outlined the agenda of the 3^rd Cluster Coordination Committee (CCC) meeting. Mr Vivek Malhotra, DGM, SIDBI, Chandigarh expressed satisfaction on the progress made during the first year of the project. He advised TERI to plan and undertake activities in the following important areas during the current financial year:

Conduct at least 40 energy audits in the cluster, followed by post-audit verifications so as to judge the entrepreneurs’ responses to the energy audits.
Expedite work in relation to the setting up of portable testing facilities
Pursue vendor development as the flagship activity of the project. The TERI project team has already interacted with the leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the cluster, who have agreed to collaborate with TERI in this activity.
Upgrade the skills of local manpower, as there is scarcity of trained operators and workers
Widen the market for Panchkula industries. Currently, the main client of these industries is HMT Ltd, whose demand for products is continuously plummeting.

The TERI team described the achievements of 2009-2010 and the proposed action plan for the period April 2010–March 2011. In the discussions that followed, participants observed that the project has generated a lot of awareness among the entrepreneurs/BDS providers and other stakeholders of the cluster regarding issues of mutual interest. The project team was applauded for helping the Chandigarh industries association in applying for infrastructure strengthening under the ‘capacity building of associations’ scheme of MoMSME.

On the issue of common branding, Mr. B.S. Anand, President, Mohali Industries Association, pointed out that excise duty exemption cannot be availed by firms that adopt a common brand, and hence this aspect should be kept in mind while promoting common branding. He also requested TERI to support the ERP initiative of MIA under which 30 firms are to covered initially. In this regard, TERI has already made a request to PMD-SIDBI to support this activity.

Mr. Vishnu Goel, General Secretary, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Panchkula stressed the need to set up a Panchkula tractor parts cluster under MSME-CDP scheme. He also emphasized the fact that the industries of Panchkula need an impetus on the marketing front, because the demand from their main buyer, HMT Ltd, is dwindling with plunging production. Professor P. Thareja, Head, Metallurgical Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology (PECUT) stressed the importance of skill development for workers and urged the entrepreneurs to be forthcoming in supporting this initiative. He added that the students of PECUT would be keen to work on the vendor development initiative of the project.

Mr K.L Sarkar, MSME Foundation, reiterated the need for promoting the development of local skills. He suggested that TERI explore collaboration with an institution in the cluster under existing government schemes so that this initiative becomes sustainable. Mr. Naveen Manglani, General Secretary, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries spoke on the issue of untimely payments by the OEMs.

List of participants

Mr Vivek Malhotra, Deputy General Manager, SIDBI Chandigarh

Prof. P. Thareja, Head Metallurgical Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh

Dr Gunmala Suri, Reader, University Business School, Punjab University, Chandigarh

Mr K L Sarkar, MSME Foundation, New Delhi

Mr B S Anand, President, Mohali Industries Association, Mohali

Mr Vishnu Goel, General Secretary, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Panchkula

Mr Arun Mahajan, President, Industries Association of Chandigarh

Mr Y.K Mahajan, General Secretary, Industries Association of Chandigarh

Mr A L Aggarwal, President, Chandigarh Industrial Fasteners Association

Mr Naveen Manglani, General Secretary, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries

Er K.S Mahal, General Secretary, Mohali Industries Association, Mohali