With the objective of aiding the small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing sector, the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) has joined hands with Microsoft to come up with a multi-function portal that will not only help the SME companies in their business development but also to become competitive in the global market.
The portal (www.nmcc-vikas.gov.in or www.nmcc-vikas.in) will enable the Indian SMEs to reach out to the global market. Since majority of them are still in the nascent stage of adopting the information and communication technology, the portal will help them develop the skills, finding out the resources and establish the links vital for business, said NMCC Chairman Dr V Krishnamurthy here on Tuesday.
The portal will act as a single point entry for the manufacturing sector units to interact with each other, their customers and suppliers, financial institutions, training institutions and government agencies. It will also provide access to learning content through e-learning modules.
Productivity
“Currently the manufacturing sector contributes only 17 per cent of the GDP. But if the sector has to attain 12-14 per cent annual growth, as envisaged in the upcoming national manufacturing policy, the productivity has to increase,” said Dr Krishnamurthy.
Observing that only 10 per cent of the SMEs in the manufacturing sector has access to the institutional finance, he said improving the financial condition of the SMEs was one of the six priority areas for the NMCC.  The council was established in 2004 as an autonomous body to find out areas where the Indian units can become globally competitive.