Defence expo to conclude today

‘MSME DEFEXPO 2012 - the three-day international MSME sub-contracting and supply exhibtion will conclude on Saturday.

The exhibition, organised by the National Small Industries Corporation, aims to provide a platform for medium and small scale enterprises (MSME) contributing to defence sector.

With the country’s security needs steadily increasing, a defence production policy has been announced in January last year, to encourage the participation of the SMEs, said Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju at the inauguration of the event on Friday.

The government will soon set up separate fund to provide resources to public and private sector including SMEs, he added. During the 12th Five Year Plan, a scheme for setting up research and development funds for SMEs is likely to be implemented, the minister added.

‘HALburdened’

On disinvestment of the HAL, the minister said the country is proud to have such a company. Yet, HAL is overburdened with many projects and hence, the disinvestment. Providing opportunities for SMEs will reduce such burden on a single player, he said.

S V Ranganath, Chief Secretary said the City generates nearly 65 per cent of the country’s Aerospace business. To draw more investments, development of aerospace park is being considered, he added. R K Mathur, Secretary, Ministry of MSME said the Union government has come up with a public procurement policy that would require all Central ministries and public sector units to purchase at least 20 per cent of their total annual purchases from the MSME sector. This would greatly strengthen the sector, he opined.