No doubt an awareness has been created that the SME sector needs attention and a specific programme and plan but mere awareness will not resolve the problems of the sector which needs direct help for its development, said Zulfikar Thaver, convenor, Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame), while presiding over a meeting to examine the retarded growth of the sector.
Unisame has submitted a plan to the concerned authorities for rapid development of sector and is in fact looking forward to the green signal to carry out its programme for the jump start of the development of the sector, he added.
The requirements of SMEs are finance at affordable mark up, land at concessional rates, with easy instalments repayment plan, regular supply of raw materials, low cost of production, facilities of leasing, banking, insurance at the door step, reduction in import duties of raw materials, zero duty on import of machinery, export and import houses to manage imports and exports, technical education at all levels operator, supervisory and management level, good infrastructure, specific industry wise research and related information to be made available for the entrepreneurs without any fees.
There is an urgent need for an institution for the promotion and development of SMEs, an institution which can co-ordinate between the-various ministries and bring about a quick movement of cases lying unattended in various ministries.
The SMEs are not coming forward because of several reasons, amongst them the fear of being intimidated by different agencies, which start coming as soon as they see the signboard of the entrepreneur.
Secondly, there are no incentives, such as tax holidays as well as tariff protections and the import duty on raw material is higher than the duty on import of finished goods.-PR