UCCI bats for separate Corp for MSME sector

Reported by Sandeep Pattnaik

Bhubaneswar, Jan 14:

The Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) Ltd has urged the state government to create a separate corporation under the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) department for faster infrastructure growth of the sector. This was among a slew of measures mooted by the trade body on the occasion of its golden jubilee celebrations here on Tuesday.

“As IDCO is mainly concentrating on procurement of land for mega and large industries and undertaking contract work for them, a separate entity under the MSME department needs to be created for the growth of infrastructure in this sector,” President of UCCI Ramesh Mohapatra urged the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who inaugurated the event.

The industry body has recommended rationalization of value added tax (VAT) and input credit to downstream industries in the aluminium and steel sectors for promoting these industries in the state.

The chamber also requested the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene in the matter of applicability of the one-time settlement (OTS) policy 2009 as announced by IPICOL then to settle the debt of 15 entities, who have already deposited the required down payment under the scheme. IPICOL is about to introduce a new OTS policy replacing the old policy, which might deprive these entities from settling their outstanding under the scheme, UCCI apprehended.

Mohapatra was also in favour of drafting of a new Industrial Policy Resolution –IPR 2014 as the present IPR is already seven years old. He suggested the modification of the IPR 2007 to suit the state’s budget and policies.

The chamber recommended that the CM should direct DISCOMs to procure materials from MSMEs in the state as part of the Odisha MSME policy, 2009 by deleting VAT structure and price preference. The higher rate of VAT in the state encourages the DISCOMS to procure their requirement from outside parties by paying a mere @2% CST, for which the MSMEs have always paid the price.

“This is because the VAT money ultimately goes to the government of Odisha, which gives 50% of the total amount to DISCOMs under the CAPEX programme,” the UCCI President said.