In boost for MSMEs, Gadkari inaugurates tech centres in Vizag, Bhopal to train students in design, robotics
MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated two technology centres, three extension centres of big technological centres and seven mobile Udyam Express vans.
Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari inaugurated two technology centres at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to provide training to around 2.5 lakh students in design and robotics.
He also inaugurated three extension centres of big technological centres and seven mobile Udyam Express vans.
Gadkari said the technological centres should have coordination, cooperation, and communication with local industries, and emphasised the need to have a performance audit of all the technological and extension centres.
On the auto sector, Gadkari said,
"The target is to make Indian automobile industry worth Rs 10 lakh crore in the next five years from the present Rs 4.5 lakh crore."
MSME Minister of State Pratap Chandra Sarangi said the Udyam Express vans would travel to villages and make people aware of all aspects of entrepreneurship, along with imparting training to them.
It is estimated that after the establishment of the new centres, an additional capacity for skilling four lakh trainees and assisting one lakh MSMEs will be created to provide technology, incubation, skilling, and advisory support to the industry.
Last month, Gadkari inaugurated a major bamboo incense manufacturing unit in Assam to provide direct employment to 350 people, along with indirect job creation for more than 300 others.
Apart from making incense sticks, the unit named Keshari Bio Products LLP in Bajali district of Assam utilises a huge quantity of waste bamboo to make biofuels and other products.
Gadkari said the new bamboo stick unit would go a long way in strengthening the local incense industry, which had a huge potential for local employment creation.
"This is the most appropriate example of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', which aims at creating local employment and sustainable livelihood," the minister said.
Currently, the consumption of incense sticks in India is pegged at a 1,490 tonnes a day, but only 760 tonnes a day are locally produced.
The huge gap between demand and supply resulted in heavy imports of raw incense — from two percent in 2009 to 80 percent in 2019.
Edited by Lena Saha