'Ordnance Factories keen to partner local MSMEs'

KOLKATA : Ordnance Factories are keen to partner MSMEs to leverage the maximum output for the defence preparedness of the Armed forces and security agencies, said Mr Atul Gupta, IOFS, Deputy Director General – P&MM, Ordnance Factory Board.
“Ordnance Factories and vendors may cooperate in a symbiotic fashion,” Mr Gupta told a large gathering of MSMEs at the MSME Conclave 2017 organised by CII here at the CII-Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for Leadership today.The new Defence Procurement Procedures have set the tone for a fresh procurement regime to boost the ‘Make in India’ initiative in the defence sector, he added.
“The idea is to have higher indigenization of content in the existing ‘Buy (Indian)’ and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ schemes. Ranging from tanks to uniforms, Ordnance Factories produce more than 600 products for Indian armed forces. All varieties of raw materials, finished and semi-finished components, assemblies, sub-assemblies, packing material very well suited to MSMEs are being procured by Ordnance Factories,” he said.
In his view, the policy to favour the purchase of locally designed, developed and manufactured products and speeding up the process of procurement with a pronounced stress on self-reliance in defence production being the latest mantra, the horizon of the MSMEs is broadening,
“Defence industry is in a dynamic and evolving mode. Archaic processes and trappings of unnecessary regulations are being abandoned. The hallmark of the concept of ‘Make in India’ is public-private partnership,” said Mr Gupta.
Earlier, RAdm (Retd) A K Verma, Past Chairman, CII Eastern Region; described defence as a sector that never witnesses a slowdown. “No business is better than defence business which offers unlimited opportunities to MSMEs,” RAdm (Retd) Verma said, adding that the problem, however, with many MSMEs is that they do not know how to align themselves with the defence business.
Mr S K Aggarwal, General Manager, Bank of India, too, acknowledged the importance of MSMEs in the country’s economic growth and job creation. “Financing to MSMEs in Bank of India has risen by two per cent in the past one year. Our bank has on offer a lot of products for MSMEs,” he said.
Mr Ashish Agarwal, Chairman, CII Eastern Region (ER) MSME Subcommittee and Executive Director, OriPlast Ltd, said the region, especially West Bengal, has a strong potential to develop back into an MSME hub. “CII believes that there is a need to strengthen the entire support structure – relating to mentoring, financing, quality standards, marketing inputs and technology acquisition for MSMEs,” he said.
“In line with Make in India mission, we are putting our best efforts to offer support MSMEs in the region. Despite the contributions made by the MSME sector, bottlenecks like absence of adequate and timely banking finance, limited capital, deter the growth of the sector,” he added.
Mr Ashish Jain, Co-Chairman CII Eastern Region MSME Subcommittee, strongly pitched for technology adoption, saying it is a major catalyst for growth for MSMEs. “ICT adoption by MSMEs is expected to increase. It is important to continually upgrade their ICT tools and systems,” Mr Jain said.