Centre thrust on IPR to boost MSMEs

Kick-starts initiative; WIPO-India Action Plan to be implemented this financial year

‘Building awareness on intellectual property rights’, initiated as part of the Centre’s National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP), is pegged to enhance the competitiveness of the SMEs sector, as also encourage sustainable models for overall development of such enterprises. Stressing on the fact that IPR protection plays a key role in achieving competitive advantage in terms of technological gains for attaining higher economic growth in a market driven economy, the Centre believes that there is a need for greater understanding and attention by the industry, particularly the MSME sector in India.

The Ministry of Small Scale Industries & Agro & Rural Industries says that under the new initiative it plans to provide assistance for programmes creating awareness or sensitising about the usage and advantages of  intellectual property rights, for pilot studies/projects, interactive seminars/workshops, for providing specialised training, setting up of intellectual property facilitation. Besides, it will also provide assistance for grant on patent registrations and interactions with international agencies, it said.
However, the assistance will only be provided to a set of select enterprises that are recognised by the Centre and match the necessary requirements.

As per the guidelines of the programme, the Centre will provide a maximum grant of Rs 1 lakh for awareness programmes, Rs 2.50 lakh for pilot studies for selected clusters, Rs 65 lakh for setting up an IP centre and Rs 25,000 and Rs 2 lakh for domestic and international patent registration respectively. Similarly, for interaction with international agencies, it will provide Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh for domestic intervention and international exchange programme respectively.

Further, the scheme will be monitored by a Steering Committee Chaired by the Development Commissioner (MSME), which will be the apex decision making body.  The committee will also have industry representatives, as also IP experts. After wider consultations the committee may constitute a Project Implementation Committee (IPC), under the Chairmanship of an IPR expert or a Senior Technical Officer which will be responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the programme and recommending approval of specific proposals within the overall framework of the guidelines.

MoU with WIPO

Besides, under the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)-India Action Plan 2010-11, as part of the MoU signed in November 2009, there are special initiatives to take IPR to the MSME sector, such as: customisation of IP panorama with reference to the MSMEs, translation of IPR booklets into regional languages, etc.,