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Following is from a report in Economic Times by Nageshwar Patnaik.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) on Wednesday proposed setting up of 16 new clusters on public-private partnership [PPP] in Orissa each accommodating about 1000 units and providing direct and indirect employment close to 4 lakh people.

Releasing the ASSOCHAM study on "Cluster Development for Inclusive Growth in Orissa" National Secretary General, D. S. Rawat said, "The total funds required for basic and essential infrastructure to these clusters will be about Rs. 480 crores. Once functional, it will contribute additional 10% revenues per annum to the exchequer, help in inclusive growth and simultaneously lead to upgradation of existing clusters.

…  In the state, there are only 26 clusters in the state recognized by the Central government as against 6500 clusters in the country out of which 450 are assisted by the government. The 16 new clusters suggested by ASSOCHAM are: Palasa (Cashew), Buditi (Brass & Bell Metal), Baripada (Sabai Grass), Dhenkanal (Powerloom), Puri (Rice Mills), Bhadrak (Rice Mill Cluster), Dhamara (Ice Plant), Basudevpur (Ice Plant), Chandbali (Chuda Cluster), Tihdi (Chuda Cluster), Basudevpur (Chuda Cluster), Bhandaripokhari (Honey), Dhamara (Honey), Betaligaon (Wood Carving), Olaga (Wood Carving) and Dhusuri (Wood Carving).

The MSME sector contributes around 40% to GDP with an estimated value of goods and services around Rs. 20 lakh crore in 2009-10. The sector is estimated to employ about 5.9 crore people in over 2.6 crore units in the country and has consistently registered a higher growth rate than the rest of the industrial sector. There are over 6000 products ranging from traditional to high-tech items, which are being manufactured by the MSMEs in India.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Bishnu Das.

To meet the infrastructure needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on a priority basis, the Orissa government has reserved 20 per cent of the area in all industrial estates, industrial parks, industrial corridors and land banks for such units.

Further, the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) will promote new exclusive zones for MSMEs in all major industrial hubs of the state.

The locations where exclusive industrial parks will be promoted include Kalinganagar, Barbil, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Rourkela, Baragarh, Balasore, Dhamara, Gopalpur, Chhatrapur, Raygada, Kalahandi and Choudwar.

Such exclusive zones will also come up near the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state.

… The government has also decided that wherever land is provided to large and medium industries, 10 per cent of the land, subject to a maximum limit of 200 acres, will be earmarked for setting up MSMEs. This will facilitate the setting up of ancillary and downstream units, preferably in cluster mode, a source added.

… Sources said that Common Facility Centres (CFCs), to be set up by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) constituted for the MSME clusters, would be entitled for allotment of land free of cost at various locations in the state.

… To provide assured sources of raw material for such units, the Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) and the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) will set up raw material banks.

The two organisations will act as nodal agencies for MSMEs and public sector resource companies will accord priority to OSIC and NSIC in supply of raw materials, which will be made available to MSMEs at the lowest possible rate.

(Thanks to http://kddf.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/information-about-subarnapur-district-handloom-cluster/  for the inspiration to write about this.)

The following is from the pages http://www.indianhandloomscluster-dchl.net/index.asp.

The overall handloom situation in Orissa is as per the following table:

Among those, Bargarh and Sonepur are among the 20 pilot clusters.

The page for the Baragarh cluster is http://www.indianhandloomscluster-dchl.net/Bargarh/Index.asp. Following is some information from that page.

Bargarh Handloom cluster is spread over the entire Block of Bargarh, Attabira, Bijepur and Sohella. The cluster has 7158 numbers of looms as per the survey report of the zonal Handloom office taken up during the year 2004 out of which 5102 looms are working in 299 different villages. The main products of the cluster are cotton sarees of tie and dye and small amount of dress materials, lungis and napkins etc. The annual production is around 10 Crores rupees. The products of this area are mostly marketed in Orissa and National market. The cluster so to say represents Orissa in quantitative and qualitative Tie and Dye Cotton Sarees as no other clusters of other districts in Orissa produces such sarees.

… The weaving in the cluster by the traditional weavers’ community popularly known as "Bhulia" came in to existence during mid of 17th  century and with increase in their population, they spread to other nearby places. They initially belong to Rajasthan and were presented during the 14th  century to the ruler of Patna State, a king of Chouhan dynasty "Ramai Deb". Later on they were presented to the king of Sonepur during the 16th  century and scattered to the nearby district i.e., Bargarh in the next century.

The cluster consists sizable number of professional weavers (Non traditional) from Schedule Caste and  Schedule Tribe (Kuli caste) weavers, which in total accounts for 60 %. Generally these weavers are less skilled and engaged in production of Napkin, Lungi,  Sarees, Dhotis, etc.

Weaving with Tie dye in the cluster prior to 40”s was done with 40”/42” looms operated with hanging slay and engaged in producing Kapta, Lungi and Napkins made of 12’s/16’s/20’s cotton yarn. The yarns were dyed with vegetable colours. The main colours were Yellow (from Turmeric), Maroon (From bark of Aal tree), Blue form Nile and Black (From Hirakasi and Chakda Seeds). Fabrics of vegetable colours were sometimes not fast and ranges of colours were also limited, forcing the Tie-Dye production in to limited colours and so also the design. Such practice was on vogue till the mid of 40s when vat colour was first substituted for in place   of some vegetable colours.

The next major changes in the cluster took place with the introduction of twisted cotton mercerized yarn and synthetic colours in the early 60’s. The looms started widening mainly to 52" width for normal sarees and other production and 90" for double bed sheet production. There were also few 60” / 72" looms to accommodate weaving of middle-sized bed sheets.

Activities in the cluster started taking momentum with the involvement of Late Padmashree Dr. Krutartha Acharya and his four associates in the cluster area during 1942 and started their business with production on limited numbers of looms. Later he converted his business in to a co operative society named Sambalpuri Bastralaya, registered during the year 1954 under "Bihar and Orissa Co operative Societies Act" and established in Bargarh town. This is the first firm in the cluster, which took the leadership in weaving activities of cluster and stood as a milestone in its history.

… Unlike the Tie-Dye work of other states of India, the motif and designs of the cluster are infinite in number and every motif or design is categorized under a special caption. No design is let out without giving it a name. It shows the creative mind of the weavers of the region.

The page for the Sonepur cluster is http://www.indianhandloomscluster-dchl.net/Sonepur/Index.asp. Following is some information from that page.

The writing in the stones of Kahandagiri cave Orissa suggests that the art of weaving was in Orissa before 600 B.C. Similarly some carving in the temples of Sonepur cluster (Baidyanath) indicates that weaving was in existence in the area during prior to 9th B.C. Besides weaving with cotton yarn, there was also weaving with wild silk (Tassar), wool and fibers from stem of lotus. The tie-dye weaving in western Orissa came in to existence during mid of 14th century when 100 weaver’s families were brought from Raipur area of Madhya Pradesh by the then ruler of Patnagarh Sri Ramai Dev. The weavers’ later on titled as Meher and their caste known as Bhulia. Such weavers were traditionally weaving the tie and dye fabrics. Orissa has also history of exporting handloom to south-east Asia countries like Thailand, Java, Borrneo and Sumatra (Last three are Island of Indonesia) during pre-independence period in sea route. It is therefore also the bank of river Mahanadi and some other big river of Orissa has developed weaving culture.

The Bomkai Designs are the traditional designs in production in the village named Bomkai in Ganjam District of Orissa. Latter on it is introduced in Sonepur. Before 1950’s the main product mix of this cluster was cotton sari and Dhotis. The main occupation of "Bhulia" community was weavings. Weavers had looms of short width and they used to weave cotton sari of length 12ft and its width was 36 inches. During that period, cotton yarn of (10 to 40) counts were available in the market.

Weavers by own used to sell woven sari at nearby locally market and whatever they got remuneration by selling the sari, they used to brought yarn for further weaving. During this period, due to absence of chemical dyes, mainly vegetable dye was used to dye the yarn. Vegetable dye had limited colours i,e yellow (From Turmeric), Maroon (From bark of Aal trees), Blue (Nile) and black (Hirakasi and Chakda seeds). The colour of vegetable dyes was not fast in the fabrics. The vegetable dye has limited ranges of colour that limit the design of tie & dye fabrics. During mid of 1950’s the late Padamshree Sri Kruthartha Acharya was the up-coming entrepreneur in handloom sector. He was belonging to Bargarh sub-division which was neighbouring district of Sonepur. He had installed 200 looms at Sonepur and established a unit for producing handloom sarees. During mid of 1960’s, lots of modifications were done to upgrade the handloom sector of Sonepur. The widths of looms were widening up to (48 to 50) inches; mercerized yarns of finer quality (60 counts) were introduced. Shri Kruthartha Acharya also introduced chemical dyes. Many weavers were trained to adopt the change. Due to introduction of chemical dye, the ranges of colour shed were increased which helps the weavers to produce variety of design in tie and dye fabrics. Slowly other weavers of the cluster adopted the new technology. Dr Acharya also searched other market by promoting the Sonepur product in other States by participating in exhibition and fair conducted by handloom department, Govt. of India. He also used to purchase the woven sari from weaver and used to supply raw materials and design to them. This helped the weavers to only concentrate on production work instead of marketing the products. Latter on during 1954, Dr. Achaya converted his firm into cooperative society named Sambalpuri Bastrayala Handloom Cooperative Society Ltd, Bargarh, which is at present stand as a leading PWCS of not only the State but also of the country. During mid Seventies G.O.O. initiated a corporation called Orissa Handloom Development Corporation which grew and decayed in two decades and has been liquidated recently. The other major changes taken place in the cluster was introduction of silk yarn in early 1980’s. The body part of silk fabric was woven with silk yarn and Anchal by cotton tie and dye. It took two – three years to develop Jala design which helped the weaver to design the fabric in simple way. This Bomkai design were developed in the late 80’s and introduced in early 1990’s in the cluster. Since then, the permutation and combination of designs involving in tie-dye, Bomkai, Jala etc are practicing in the cluster. Latter on Body design was also developed to make the fabric more attractive and Zari were used to add value to the fabric. Weaver co-operative societies were the major firms operating in the handloom sectors. These societies were large in number during mid of 90’s. The entry of private entrepreneurs and private traders started from 1980’s. Padamshri Chaturbhuj Meher had entered in this sector in early 1980’s and had great contribution in this sector. On the other hand gradual reduce in the Government subsidies, declining support from apex WCS, closure of Handloom Development corporation and mismanagement at the primary wcs level are the main reasons of reduction in the number of active co-operative societies. Unlike the Tie-Dye work in the other part of India, the motif and design of the cluster are infinite in number and every motif or design is characterized under a special caption. No design is let out without giving it a name. It shows the creative mind of the weavers of region. Orissa had 129236 (1951), 119005 (1987) and 92869 (1996) as per the handloom figure census, which shows the continuous decline in the loom position. The total looms in Sonepur district is 7243 (As per the survey conducted by ADT office Sonepur). The product mixes are cotton sari, silk sari and dress material. The total production of the cluster in the Co-Operative Sector is Rs 985.46 lacs.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

With Orissa witnessing a rush of investment proposals in the iron and steel sector, the domestic and overseas steel majors are exploring the possibilities of developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the large units proposed by them.

Tata Steel is developing a six-million tonne greenfield steel project at Kalinga Nagar, the emerging steel hub of the country. The firm has identified business opportunities worth Rs 12,000 crore in the ancillary and downstream units.

“The opportunities for ancillary and downstream units exist in the areas of operations and maintenance, core specialised services, support specialised services, processing and township management, to name a few. There can be different working models for development of local SMEs as ancillaries and downstream units. One such model includes Tata Steel and other steel majors working together with their ancillary partners in Orissa,” said K Shankar Marar, assistant general manager, (steel technology, at Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar project.

…  Another steel major, JSL, (formerly Jindal Stainless Limited), is keen on developing an industrial park based on downstream stainless steel industries, spread over an area of 300 acres as a part of its SEZ (special economic zone) in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

The SEZ is being developed at an investment of around Rs 700 crore. JSL has engaged US-based consultant CB Richard Ellis for developing a business plan for the project wherein opportunities for downstream industries will be explored.

The SEZ is set to provide direct employment to 3,800 workers besides generating indirect employment for 1,200 others.

Posco which has announced an investment of about Rs 52,000 crore for a 12 million tonne steel plant near Paradeep is also committed to development of ancillary and downstream units and the steel giant has engaged IIT-Kharagpur for a study on the opportunities that exist in this area.

According to a study conducted by IIT-Kharagpur for Posco India, opportunities for SME entrepreneurs exist in the areas of structural steel, ready mixed concrete, refractory, steel and concrete piles, pipes, propeller shafts and furnace building to name a few.

According to the study, opportunities also exist in other operational areas like steel probes, mould flux, thermos materials, manufacture and fabrication of structures, conveyor belts and electrical equipment repairs.

The study adds that business opportunities worth Rs 320 crore exist in the area of refractory, Rs 44 crore for cement, Rs 2.5 crore in hydraulic hoses and Rs 4 crore in wire rods. The first phase of Posco India’s project would generate 35,728 labour intensive jobs and another 30,420 technology intensive jobs.

… Aarti Steel has already started its efforts for developing SMEs as ancillaries for its steel plant in the state.

“We have sourced items and spare parts worth Rs 37 crore from 47 local partners till March 2008. Aarti Steel plans to develop two forging units adjacent to its steel plant for the benefit of the local entrepreneurs and we have approached IDCO to provide land for these units”, said a senior official of Aarti Steel.

On its part, the Orissa government plans to incorporate a clause at the MoU (memorandum of understanding) level with the private steel players to ensure that the mother industries will make necessary efforts for development of ancillary and downstream units.

The efforts made by the steel units to develop the ancillary units will be monitored by officials like district collectors and revenue district commissioners.

Steelguru.com gives some specifics of the SME/MSE impact with respect to Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar plant.

BS reported that the 6million tonne per annum greenfield steel project proposed by TATA Steel in Kalinganagar will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore when fully commissioned. These services will be outsourced by the company and are expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises in Orissa.

The services to be outsourced include warehousing, machine shop, electrical repairing shop, fabrication shops, electrodes and lubricant suppliers, waste management, mechanized material handling and hospitality among others. Since the maintenance cost is about 4% of the total investment in steel industry, this is expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises.

Mr B K Singh VP Orissa project of TATA Steel said that "We will invest about INR 30,000 crore in the Kalinganagar project in phases and will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore.”

He added that the group will work towards developing the local entrepreneurs and will provide assistance to anyone who wants to be a partner in TATA Steel’s business. He added that TATA Steel will give the first right of refusal to local industries in the maintenance support services.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) will prepare a project report for setting up of a mega food park at Malipada near Khurda, about 30 km from Bhubaneswar. It will study the feasibility, plan for infrastructure within the park, formulate promotional and marketing strategies among others. …

The latest initiative of the state government assumes importance as the Union government is encouraging establishment of food processing parks and has already announced a grant of Rs 1500 crore for 30 mega food processing parks in the country by the end of 2008.

Though none of the proposed mega food parks in the country has been notified yet, the state government will send a proposal to the Union ministry on setting up of a food processing in Orissa, said the sources. In case the Union government does not approve the state’s proposal, the state government intends to go on its own to set up a mega food park at Malipada, sources added.

The state government has already identified 80 acres of land at Malipada for this purpose. It will be handed over to the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idcol) by the district collector of Khurda and the process will be completed within 45 days.

The Union minister for food processing will be invited by the state government to visit the identified location towards the end of November. Besides, steps will be taken to develop a chain of cold storage between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

This was decided at a review meeting on the food processing industries in Orissa chaired by the Development Commissioner (DC) R N Bohidar recently.

As per the Government of India (GoI) scheme, the mega food park need to be built on a minimum area of 100 acres and maximum area of 100 hectares and the grant can be availed in two installments.

Khurda will be a preferred location as it will be closer to the bio-technology park being set up at Andharua near Bhubaneswar which will add synergy to the project.

Sources said, the plans for the development of terminal market or distribution centres at key locations like Choudwar, Berhampur and Sambalpur along with the supply chain of horticulture products in the catchment areas are being worked out by the department of horticulture.

That apart, multi-product cold chain network and the Inland Container Depos (ICDs) at Kalinganagar and Jharsuguda by CONCOR and similar facilities proposed at other places like Rourkela, Bhadrakh and Angul are likely to give a fillip to the sector.

In view of the potential in the food and the agro-processing sector, some sub-sectors have been identified by the state government for development. This includes rice, cashew, spices, mango, marine and fishery, diary and maize.

… According to the official figures, there were 92,417 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the state by the end of 2006-07 with an investment of about Rs 2825.16 crore. Out of it, 21,298 units were in the food and allied sector with an investment of Rs 803.78 crore. While the MSE sector accounted for about 5,56,908 employment, out of it the food processing sector engaged 1,10,329 persons.

 

This appears in various news media. Following are excerpts from a report in Kalinga Times.

… IBM India on Wednesday announced the launch of its SMB operations in Bhubaneswar .

This expansion will enable IBM to provide better support to SME clients in and around Bhubaneswar and help IBM’s customers leverage IT for business growth.

In addition, mid-market businesses will also benefit from the new IBM Express Advantage initiative that provides SMEs with a unified end-to-end approach to help them innovate and expand.

…Earlier this year, IBM had announced a plan to extend its presence to 14 cities outside of the key metros, and has successfully launched operations in Bhopal , Chandigarh , Coimbatore , Cochin , Goa, Jaipur, Jamshedpur , Lucknow , Nagpur , Nashik, Surat , and Vizag. It will look to expand into Ludhiana and Madurai as well.

… IBM’s SME offerings have already been accepted in various industries and organisations. Some existing customers in Bhubaneswar include, Government of Orissa IT Department – OCAC, Dept of Treasury Orissa, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd, Vedanta Alumina Ltd, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Biju Patnaik University of Technology, and Utkal University to name a few.

Odihsa.com and Tathya.in report that a delegate from Orissa is going for a roadshow in the Punjab-Haryana area to attract investors for medium and small enterprises. The team will be lead by Dr. Ashok Dalwai, the current industry secretary of Orissa.