Speaking at a seminar, ‘SME East — 2008’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) here today, the state minister for micro, small scale enterprises and textile, Manabendra Mukherjee, said the textile, handloom, sericulture and engineering divisions in the SME sector would help in contributing the job addition.

“We are also in talks with the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) for setting up an Apparel Management Institute in the state to train the people engaged in the industry,” Mukherjee said.

He, however, added that the details of the project were yet to be worked out, as AEPC is yet to purchase the land in the state to set up the institute.

Representatives of the financial institutions in the state were bullish about the growth of SME sector in the state and said that they are expecting to disburse greater amount of loans to the sector. The participants at the seminar also expressed similar sentiment and said that the sector must take advantage of the industrial resurgence in the state.

“Our total loans outstanding as of March 31, 2008 in the eastern region would be Rs 5500 crore, which is a growth of 30 per cent over the last fiscal (2006-07). And we expect this amount to grow by 40-45 per cent in the next fiscal (2008-09),” said the chief general manager in charge of the eastern region of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), KS Singhwan.

The development commissioner of the Centre’s MSME Development Wing, Jawahar Sircar, said the Credit-Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) would be revived again in the 11th plan period.

Outstanding funds to the tune of Rs 115 crore that the Union government is liable to pay under the scheme would be cleared in the next 15 to 20 days, he added.

CLCSS is a scheme under which the central government gives a 15 per cent subsidy on loans availed by small and medium entrepreneurs from banks up to a maximum of Rs 1 crore for upgradation of existing machinery.