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The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a low-cost, innovative, and self-propelling model of cluster development through its national scheme, Development of Industry Associations (DIA), a release stated.
The National Conclave on DIA was inaugurated by M Nagaraju, Secretary DFS, Ministry of Finance, in the national capital. Nagaraju said that India needs to evolve from being a production hub to an innovation epicentre in areas of its competitive advantages. Cluster development passes through four stages: initiation, establishment, operationalization, and transformation. Many Indian clusters are in the establishment or operationalisation stage. Nagaraju said industry associations must become the torchbearers that guide clusters to the transformational stage, where they not only serve local needs but also shape global value chains. "Many of our associations lack scale, financial sustainability, and modern service delivery capacity. To truly empower MSMEs, we must invest in strengthening the capabilities of our associations. Our clusters must transform from industrial hubs into innovation epicentres and our industry associations must evolve from being representatives to becoming catalysts of transformation," he said. Around 125 representatives from approximately 90 industry associations across the country, including eight from the north-eastern states, participated in the Conclave. The Industry Associations represented sectors including engineering, plastics, printing, textiles, food processing, furniture, jewellery and electronics. Speaking on the occasion, Manoj Mittal, CMD, SIDBI, said strong clusters need strong industry associations. "SIDBI will follow a dual strategy: firstly, support industry associations for infrastructure, trained human resources and initial activities in a flexible and demand-driven approach and secondly, digitally strengthen the ecosystem through a portal created. The portal will support all registered associations and their members in participating in and conducting research on topics of interest, networking and learning, staying updated with information, and addressing their financial and technical requirements," he said. "The ultimate objective is to create financially sustainable industry associations which will have an action plan, and will provide strategic services to their members. Here, there is a lot to learn from the FPOs, which have reached 44,000 units in a span of 10+ years and provide a variety of transformational services, with revenues running into crores," he added. (ANI)
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