In order to bolster the government's efforts for the promotion and development of SMEs, the Union of Small & Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has advised all trade bodies to set up SME support committees. President Unisame, Zulfikar Thaver, in various messages sent to chairpersons, urged them to establish SME support committees on the ground that majority of the members of these trade bodies were SMEs and hence deserved special attention.
He observed that it was obligatory on the part of these associations/ trade bodies to ensure the protection and support of their members facing serious problems.
He pinpointed numerous problems being confronted by SMEs which included difficulty in access to finance, intimidation by various agencies, high cost of production, non-availability of industrial land at economical rates, irregular supply of raw material, monopolistic attitude of the controlling units, increase in export refinance rate, poor infrastructure, inordinate delay in installation of utilities and lower bracket of tax exemptions.
In order to take up these issues with the concerned departments to resolve them on priority basis, the union advised the trade bodies/associations to establish committees and sub-committees for this purpose.
The union explained that it already had such committees to attend SMEs belonging to various trades and industries but help in this regard from their respective parent bodies was still badly needed and advisable.
The union also clarified that its role was supplementary and corollary, rather than contradictory to various trade bodies and in this perspective it requested to these trade bodies/associations not to be perturbed by the existence of the union.
The union further identified the core areas, which need establishment of the proposed committee immediately. These included finance, leasing, insurance, technology transfer, utilities, product development, balancing, modernisation and replacement (BMR) and legal aid.
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