THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

A N U M B E R of agencies have been s ta r ted by Government

to develop sma l l industr ies. The N a t i o n a l S m a l l Indus t r ies Corpora­t ion—one of these agencies was set up in February , 1955, for the purpose, in the f i r s t instance, of persuading Government purchasing agencies to place orders w i t h the smal l scale uni ts for supply of stores. Gradual ly , var ious other schemes were entrusted to the Cor­pora t ion , v i z :

Supply of machinery to smal l scale units under a hire purchase scheme;

Render ing of m a r k e t i n g assist ance;

Const ruc t ion a n d management of t w o I n d u s t r i a l Estates a t Okh la (De lh i ) and N a i n i ( A l l a h a b a d ) ; and

The se t t ing up of t w o proto-type P roduc t ion -cum-Tra in ing Centres at De lh i and R a j k o t .

In order t o b r i n g the l i r e pur-chase scheme closer to smal l scale uni ts and to make i ts assistance in m a r k e t i n g more effective, 'he act iv i t ies of the Corpora t ion were decentralised and four Subsidi­a r y Corporat ions, one each in the eastern western, nor the rn and southern regions were set up in ear ly 1957.

Participation in Stores Purchase Sixteen i tems of stores required

by var ious Cent ra l Government Depar tments have been reserved exclusively fo r procurement f r o m smal l scale uni t s by the Di rec tor General of Supplies and Disposals. In order t ha t s m a l l un i t s may tender for these and other i tems wh ich they are capable of manufac tu r ing , tender sets are supplied free of cost to them. D G S & D also considers price preference in the case of tenders f r o m smal l scale uni ts . The uni t s receiving Govern­ment cont rac ts are also given technical and f inancia l assistance fo r the execution of the orders. Technical help is g iven by the Smal l Indust r ies Service Ins t i tu tes of the area in w h i c h the un i t is s i tuated and f inancial assistance is provided t h r o u g h the State B a n k of I n d i a w h i c h advances loans on pledge of r a w m a t e r i a l even upto

100 per cent of the value of such ma te r i a l , under the guarantee sche­me of the Corpora t ion .

In order, however, to ava i l o f the above benefits and faci l i t ies i t is necessary t ha t smal l scale uni ts get themselves enlisted w i t h the Smal l Indust r ies Service Ins t i tu tes of the i r respective areas.

Development of Ancillary Units To achieve a balanced indus t r ia l

s t ructure, it is necessary to develop a n c i l l a r y Indus t r ia l uni ts . The Corpora t ion in close col labora t ion w i t h the Smal l Indus t r ies Service Ins t i tu tes has been a t t empt ing , f i r s t ly , to develop where possible a number o f smal l un i t s a round b ig un i t s as feeders of par ts and com­ponents and, secondly to encourage large un i t s to purchase such stores f r o m sma l l un i t s fo r w h i c h there is ample product ion capacity. Cons tant persuasive efforts on the pa r t of the Corpora t ion have borne f r u i t , and a number of large uni ts have accepted the scheme. In order to encourage the smal l units to come f o r w a r d and set up the anci l -laries, H i r e Purchase terms have been l iberalised fu r the r in the case of machinery required for such un i t s .

Assistance in Marketing

The Corpora t ion assists the smal l scale uni ts in m a r k e t i n g the i r products t h r o u g h mobile sales vans and wholesale depots and in the overseas marke t s by pa r t i c ipa t i ng in fore ign exhibi t ions and by offer ing selected sma l l industr ies products t h r o u g h other t rade channels.

A number of mobi le vans were put on the roads w i t h their base of operat ion a t the head-quarters of the Subsidiary Corporat ions, viz, a t Bombay, Calcut ta , De lh i and Madras , to explore wider marke t s fo r s m a l l industry 's product. The vans take a few selected i tems needing In t roduc t ion a n d pub l i c i ty in the consuming centres. T h o u g h the emphasis is on publ ic i ty and propaganda, a t tempts are made to break even the cost of operat ion t h r o u g h sales across the vans ' counters.

The Corpora t ion also established wholesale depots at places wherever

January 17, 1950

there was concentra t ion of small scale industries w i t h a v iew to as­s is t ing them in overcoming their three ma in shortcomings, v iz (1) lack of s tandardisat ion, ( i i ) l ack of t rade name t h a t would assure qua l i ty and ( i i ) l ack o f contact w i t h a wider marke t . The whole­sale depots l ay down specifications for the products marke ted th rough them. The t rade name 'Jansevak' has been selected fo r such products. The objective is to pro­vide s tandardisa t ion a n d to give a general t rade m a r k . Seven such wholesale depots have been set up so fa r at Bombay (pa in ts ) , Cal­cu t t a (Hosiery) K h u r j a (po t t e ry ) , Ludh iana (bicycles, sewing machine par ts and woollen hosiery) , A g r a ( footwear) A l i g a r h flocks) and Renigunta (glass-beads).

To help the smal l scale manu­facturers to get r aw-ma te r i a l in t ime and at s t andard prices, a Raw M a t e r i a l Depot was set up in ear ly 1958 at L u d h i a n a by the Corpora t ion for supplying i r o n and steel to smal l industries located in tha t area.

Sale in Overseas Markets At temp t s are being made to ex­

tend the sale of smal l indust ry ' s product beyond the boundaries of the country . T h o u g h the h igh hopes w h i c h were raised when the Corpora t ion secured an order for 2,5 lakhs pairs of shoes for supply to Russia have not been f u l l y realised, this order was executed and was fol lowed by a repeat or­der for 65,000 pairs and a new order f r o m Poland for 54,000 pairs. A t h i r d order f r o m Russia fo r 52,000 pairs has recently been secured by the Corpora t ion and the smal l un i t s have taken up the product ion of the shoes against th i s order.

Besides shoes, the Corpora t ion has selected a few other i tems for export p romot ion such as leather goods, co t ton and wool len hosiery, Stockinet te , sports goods. builders hardware , locks and scissors pre­served food products, glass beads a n d bangles, toys, paints and var­nishes, sewing machines and spare parts , diesel engines, electric press, l amp holders, indus t r ia l fasteners

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The National Small Industries Corporation (Contributed)

THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY January 17, 1959

etc. Stockinet te (a t u b u l a r k n i t , wear used fo r meat w r a p p i n g and auto-polishing) has found a m a r k e t in N e w Zealand f r o m where a few orders have a l ready been obtained a n d executed. Concerted efforts are being made to develop export o f this i t em to New Zealand and Aus t r a l i a , t w o of the largest meat expor t ing countries in the w o r l d .

As lack of technical sk i l l and uptodate machinery have been t w o of the m a i n handicaps t ha t stood in the w a y of the development of smal l industries, the Corpora t ion , ear ly in 1956, in t roduced a scheme

of supply ing mach ine ry and m a ­chine tools to sma l l scale entre­preneurs, ex is t ing as w e l l as those w h o intended to set up new uni ts , under the hire purchase system. The terms were purposely made l ibera l to enable the large number o f sma l l un i t s to a v a i l o f th i s benefit. The applicants are requir­ed to pay 20 per cent of the value of the machines as earnest money in respect of General Purpose Machines and 33 1/3 per cent fo r Special Purpose Machines. I n s t a l ­ments are payable h a l f year ly and are spread over a per iod not ex­ceeding 8 years. F o r machines whose value does not exceed Rs 2,000, the amoun t of earnest money is reduced to h a l f the above l im i t s . I n d u s t r i a l Cooperatives m a y be per­m i t t e d to pay 5 per cent less. The interest ra te is 4½ per cent for any machine va lued upto Rs 15,000 and 6 per cent if the value exceeds Rs 15,000. F o r indus t r i a l cooperatives, these rates are 3½ per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

The t o t a l number of applicat ions accepted t i l l the end o f the year 1958 was 1425 for 4895 machines valued at Rs 4,03,39,009. Machines valued at Rs 1,60,15,344 have a l ­ready been delivered to the h i r e , purchasers. The necessity and popu la r i ty of th is scheme should be evident f r o m these figures.

Industrial Estates Real is ing t h a t an average sma l l

indus t r ia l i s t in the coun t ry d id not possess the means to own suitable f ac to ry premises to house his mach ine ry nor was he in a posi t ion to get the required ac­commodat ion at a reasonable rent in u rban areas. Government decided to set up a number of I n d u s t r i a l Estates in the coun t ry d u r i n g the Second F ive Year P lan , where bui l t -up fac to ry accommo­da t ion equipped w i t h modern fac i ­l i t ies w o u l d be made avai lable to smal l entrepreneurs at reasonable rent. Though I n d u s t r i a l Estates were made the responsibi l i ty of State Governments , the construc­t i o n of two large size Estates, one a t O k h l a (near Delh i ) and the other a t N a i n i (near A l l a h a b a d ) was entrusted to the Corpora t ion .

The f i rs t phase of bo th the Es­tates compr is ing 35 and 34 factories respectively has been completed. A l l the factories i n these Estates have been a l lo t ted . Excep t ing a few, the factories in the

O k h l a I n d u s t r i a l Es ta te have a l ready gone i n t o product ion. The remafning are a w a i t i n g a r r i v a l o f machinery or are engaged in i n s t a l l a t i on w o r k . Smal l uni t s w h i c h have moved on to the Indus­t r i a l Estates have already been able to improve the i r product ion bo th qua l i t a t ive ly and quan t i t a ­t ive ly .

Training Centres for Small Units Side by side w i t h provis ion of ma­

chinery, technical and f inancial aid, i t was considered necessary to pro­vide t r a i n i n g faci l i t ies to ar t isans as also to develop the machine tools and equipments needed by sma l l scale industries. The Cor­pora t ion was, therefore, also en­t rus ted w i t h the responsibi l i ty o f establ ishing and r u n n i n g t w o Proto- type Produc t ion-cum- t ra in ing Centres a t De lh i and R a j k o t to be set up in col labora t ion w i t h the West German Government and the U S Technical Cooperation Miss ion respectively. Under the a r range­ments, the West German Govern­ment is to supply equipment w o r t h about D M 3.15 mi l l ions besides the services of 23 technicians and the T C M w i l l provide equipment w o r t h $ 4,48,400 in addi t ion to the services of six engineers fo r a period of two years. These Centres w i l l produce proto-types of machine tools a n d dis t r ibute t hem for com­mercia l product ion by sma l l m a n u ­facturers. The Centres w i l l also i m p a r t specialised t r a i n i n g to the ski l led personnel for m a n n i n g smal l scale industries. Acco rd ing to the t ime schedule l a i d down, the Centre a t O k h l a w i l l s t a r t func t ion ing by January, 1960. F o r the t r a i n i n g centre a t Ra jko t , ma jo r por t ion of the equipment has a l ready a r r i v e d a t site, and the workshop structures are shor t ly to be erected.

Chinese Method of Paddy Cultivation

To test the efficacy of special Chinese techniques of paddy

product ion under I n d i a n conditions, the I n d i a n Council o f A g r i c u l t u r a l Research has consti tuted a sub­commit tee under the Chai rmanship of Dr B N Uppal , A g r i c u l t u r a l Com-missioned Government of I n d i a .

The sub-committee w i l l d r aw up a p lan for exper imentat ion w i t h these techniques in different parts o f Ind i a .

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January 17, 1950 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

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