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'Indian khadi for Gulf markets soon'

Khadi, India's premier environment-friendly product, may soon be available in the Gulf markets, according to Vasundhara Raje, Minister for Small-Scale, Agro and Rural Industries.

''Khadi is the future of India as we step into the 21st century. We have 15,000 khadi outlets and plan to bring the product soon to the Gulf markets in a big way,'' the Indian minister said at a reception organised by the Indian Business Council and the Indian Association in Dubai.

Raje, who was on her way back home from Sanaa after attending Yemen's unification anniversary celebrations, said India was ready to share its experience with other countries in small-scale industries, or SSIs, which played a major role in the development of economy, she said.

In this connection, she stated that Yemen had shown interest in learning from India's experience in SSIs. A team of the National Small Industries Corporation, or NSIC, would soon visit Yemen to explore the possibilities of joint ventures.

The government, she said, was framing a new policy for SSIs that would ensure that the overall interests of small-scale entrepreneurs were protected.

''Along with information technology, global states are looking at India for SSI projects. It is the biggest employment generator and the government is working towards issuing a new policy over the next year or 18 months,'' the minister said.

The new policy would deal with all specific issues, particularly those like single window clearance, enhanced access to credit, upgrading research and development and providing it facilities to SSIs.

''Delayed payment by big industries, which outsource their materials from SSIs, is an issue that we want to tackle. We are trying to put a law together to ensure payments are made on time. To tackle sickness, we are looking at venture capital funds and their listings at the stock exchanges in India,'' Raje said.

She sought to ally fears that the entry of multinationals in the Indian market would hurt SSIs. In fact, the multinationals and SSIs would be complementing each other, she said.

UNI

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