KOCHI, November 7: After nearly two years of dilly-dalying the Kerala government has made its first move to involve the captains of trade and industry in the state to formulate the much delayed new industrial policy.Industry Minister Suseela Gopalan and senior officials of the ministry held a meeting recently with leading industrialists and chambers of commerce and industries of the State here on Tuesday to get their views on the proposed policy. A senior government official claimed that probably this is the first time in the State that a government has taken the initiative to ascertain the views of industrialists before deciding the framework of the policy.

It may be recalled that the chambers of commerce and industries in the State were critical of successive State governments for failure to include the views of the industry while formulating the policies. A major area of concern at the meeting on Tuesday was the short-comings in the infrastructure development with the acute power shortage and the recent power tarriff hike leading the agenda.

Industrialists also urged the government to offer incentives to units in the State like being done by neighbouring States. There should be a detailed study of the incentives offeerd by other states, a participant said and pointed out that recently Karnataka Government exempted software and information technology units from powercut, thse minister added.

The Minister promised that the government would provide assistance in their collective endeavours such as market development, technology upgradation, skill development and quality certification.

She said the State Government faced limitations in framing policies and programmes as these had to be implemented within the framework of the policies of the Centre, she said.

The problem accentuated for the less developed states like Kerala with the onset of economic liberalisation. Given the limited resources, the State had constraints in opting for drastic changes which would involve huge financial commitments, she emphasised.

Iindustry minister Suseela Gopalan requested the industries to bear this in mind and come up with concrete and productive suggestions which would help the Government in framing the policy.

Representatives of Cochin Chamber of Commerce, Ernakulam Chamber of Commerce, Malabar Chamber of Commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry, Small Industries Association, Electronics Industries Association, Cochin Export Processing Zone, Industries Association, Rubber Industries Association, Marine Products Industries Association, Tourism Industries Association, Spices Industries Association, besides top officials of several companies attended the meeting.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.