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Bhubaneswar, Oct 28: In a bid to make micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) competitive in the global market, the state government has decided to set up design clinics for MSME units functioning in the state. This decision has been taken at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary GC Pati here Monday.
These clinics would be set up jointly by the state government and Indian Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) under the design clinic scheme of Union ministry of MSME. The objective of the clinic is to help MSME units to design or upgrade their products. It will also have advanced equipment with technical expertise, which will add value to the existing products and services, sources said. It was decided that the state government would provide corporate governance training to the MSMEs in the context of new Companies Act, 2013.
Chief Secretary Pati said that there are a lot of sole proprietorship enterprises functioning in the state and the individual entrepreneurs are subject to high financial risk and vulnerability in these units. Therefore, those units should be converted to company as per the provision of the Companies Act 2013, which would reduce the risk to limited liability. ICSI vice president Mamata Binani mentioned that as per provisions of the new act, the MSME units can be registered as One Person Company (OPC). If the MSME units are converted to companies, their liability would be limited only to the extent of unpaid amount in the capital fund of the company and the banks and venture capitalists would comfortable in extending financial assistance to them, she pointed out.
It was decided to prepare action plan for training and sensitisation of MSMEs and PSUs on these provisions. The programme will be implemented jointly by MSME department and ICSI. The Chief Secretary, further, advised the department officials to sensitise farmers’ groups to be registered under the new act as producer companies.