Minister of MSME invite Czech

Czech companies, interested in making foreign direct investment (FDI) in India and technology transfer, should actively engage with the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and industry organizations like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said the Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Virbhadra Singh in New Delhi, on Monday.

Speaking at a business-to-business (B2B) meeting and seminar on Czech glass and porcelain design industry organised by CII, Singh stressed on the importance of the MSME sector, which contributes nearly 8 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) with 45 percent share of the entire manufacturing output and has a 46 per cent share in exports. More than 6 crore people are employed in the sector and it creates employment at one-fifth the cost of large industries. "I am very happy to note that there have been enhanced engagements between companies of the two countries. I am sure that India would benefit from sophisticated technologies of the Czech Republic and in turn provide a big market to Czech companies," the MSME Minister said.

There is a scope of further growth in trade by involving MSMEs in our bilateral dialogue, Singh added.

He invited the Czech Embassy to engage actively with organizations such as Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI), National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and the Federation of Indian Small Medium Enterprise (FISME).

He mentioned that the policy of MSMEs have changed from protectionism to competitiveness. In fact, the opening up of the sector has proved beneficial for the MSMEs as well as for the economy.

Speaking at the event, President of the Senate of Parliament of Czech Republic Milan Štech, said that Czech manufacturers were keen to make products that could be sold in India at Indian price points. Creating a product itself was not enough, the ability to sell it was as important as creating it, he said.

Inviting Indian entrepreneurs to come and set up units in the Czech Republic, he cited successful examples of Czech companies being owned by Indians such as Mittal Steel.

Secretary in MSME Ministry Uday Kumar Varma emphasised the need to set up a permanent mechanism of dialogue between the two countries. Though a bilateral trade agreement was signed with the Czech Republic last year and its first meeting took place in November 2010, there is no bilateral trade council between the two countries. On being asked the possibility of setting up of such a council the MSME Minister said that it was for the Ministry of External Affairs to look into that.

"Though a bilateral trade agreement was signed with the Czech Republic last year and its first meeting took place in November 2010, there is no bilateral trade council between the two countries," Verma said.

"Indian SMEs already have joint ventures with Czech Republic," he said while adding that many of the smaller Czech companies have been taken over by Indian companies.