Press 2011
• Industry Minister urges CII to partner the state government in the growth and development process of the state at Biz Bridge 2011 (Nov 09, 2011) Biz-Bridge – Engineering & Manufacturing Expo organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) partnering with Government of West Bengal was inaugurated today in Kolkata by Shri Partha Chatterjee, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of West Bengal. The initiative which was started from 2008 serves as a perfect connect for the eastern region to the rest of the world. As one of the foremost prestigious and flagship event of CII Eastern Region, the third edition of Biz Bridge is a comprehensive international B2B forum catering to the needs of the industry in the eastern part of India. It is scheduled from 9-12 November 2011 at Science City Grounds, Kolkata. Addressing the gathering, Shri Partha Chatterjee, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of West Bengal congratulated CII for continuously working towards projecting potential and opportunities in Eastern India to the rest of the world in several verticals and sectors like infrastructure, manufacturing, engineering, tourism, information technology, banking and finance, MSMEs and others. He further stated that Biz Bridge 2011 is a culmination of all these efforts and it would be a one stop shop forum to showcase the potential, prospects and opportunities in Eastern India. “I am happy to know that the conferences that will run parallel to the exhibition will also focus on the sectors that are important to the Eastern Region and particularly to West Bengal – Power & Energy, MSMEs, Oil & Gas, Minerals & Metals” avowed Shri Chattterjee.. While speaking of the future initiatives of the Government of West Bengal, the Hon’ble Minister mentioned that the state government would expand urban quality infrastructure to multiple cities and towns. Government would also encourage positive work culture, reduce working day losses and encourage higher productivity. He said that West Bengal faces an exciting, yet challenging period in which it is faced with the opportunity to make the State progressive and solidify its position in the upper echelons of development. West Bengal can achieve this based on a long-term multi-variable approach with impetus on key sectors. He took the opportunity to thank CII on behalf of the state government for continuously working towards growth and development of the state of West Bengal and welcomed CII to partner the state government in the growth and development process of the state. He appealed all to take a joint vow to bring back the past glory of West Bengal in the manufacturing sector. Shri Chatterjee affirmed that in order to reestablish the ‘Brand Bengal’, the state government would be promoting fast track execution of planned infrastructure projects and also plan new ones with a holistic, longer term roadmap. Special focus will be paid to quality and efficient execution of plans, schemes and projects. Shri Dipankar Mukhopadhyay, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Commerce & Industry, Government of West Bengal rejuvenating the growth of manufacturing sector in now the primary focus of West Bengal and a forum like Biz Bridge is extremely appropriate for further boosting the manufacturing and engineering sector of the state. Shri Sandipan Chakravortty, Chairman, Trade Fair Task Force, CII Eastern Region said that said that since the inception of Biz Bridge in 2008, Government of West Bengal and WBIDC have been extensively associated with it. There is a need to bring together the synergies of all other states of this region to take it ahead of all the regions. He stated that Biz Bridge is an apex platform and CII wants industry to use it. Biz Bridge will showcase future products, innovation and provide scope for MSMEs, networking, gauging industry trends, analyzing products and launch new products. Biz Bridge promises to open up new vistas for the manufacturing and engineering sectors. Mr Ranaveer Sinha, Chairman, CII Eastern Region stated that Biz Bridge 2011 would serve as a unique platform for various business to business synergies. Biz Bridge would showcase sectors like Metals & Minerals, Power & Energy, MSME and Oil & Gas both in the exhibition and conferences. Mr R K Agrawal, Deputy Chairman, CII Eastern Region also addressed the gathering. • Government of West Bengal to come up with a Textile Policy soon, says Dr Manas Bhunia at Biz Bridge 2011 (Nov 10, 2011) Addressing the Conference on Linkage 2011: Building Partnership for MSMEs at the sidelines of the second day of Biz Bridge 2011, Dr Manas Bhunia, Hon’ble Minister of MSMEs and Textiles, Government of West Bengal stated that CII with its past track record has been maintaining a pro-active role in industrialization and continuously creating forums for acceleration and augmentation of industrial process, both in small and large sectors. He requested CII to come out with a study on the statistical facts and the actual position of Bengal in geo-political map of India. Dr Bhunia stated that registration of the unregistered MSMEs is the need of the hour. The Hon’ble Minister made ardent appeal to the bankers to lend loans and extend necessary support to the MSMEs as they form the means of real growth in India. He announced the introduction of uniform credit cards for the small entrepreneurs which is awaiting approval from centre. He informed the gathering that the Government of West Bengal is coming up with a Textile Policy which will prove beneficial for the MSMEs. Indian Institute of Handloom Technology will be set up in Shantipur by fund provided by centre. Apart from these other textile hubs would be built up. He talked of boosting up of Murshdabad silk to make it a global quality product. A silk park is to be set up soon. Under the PMEGP, over 10,000 recipients have been helped to establish their small units. Dr Bhunia urged CII to pursue the large private units to stand beside the MSMEs as they are complementary to each other and interdependent. It is no more a time to discuss but to act. Addressing the gathering Mr G K Pillai, Vice Chairman, Defence Task Force, CII Eastern Region & Chairman & Managing Director, HEC Ltd affirmed that India being one of the fastest growing economy, the MSME sector has a key role to play to sustain the growth process. The tremendous global aspirations are ushering in product efficiency, quality efficiency and a positive trading scenario. When compared with the MSMEs of China, the Indian MSME sector needs to undertake long steps to achieve global quality standards. Mr Pillai emphasized that while effective vendor development needs collaboration between vendors and buyers, effective supplier development should not be solely cost reduction but also enhancement of product quality. According to him tie- ups with large companies can be highly beneficial to the MSMEs. He appealed the state government to start IPR cells to help the MSMEs • The third day of Biz Bridge 2011 deliberated on the emerging scenario of oil and gas sector (Nov 11, 2011) Addressing the Conference on Oil & Gas – The Emerging Scenario at the sidelines of the third day of Biz Bridge 2011, Mr Partha S Bhattacharyya, Chairman, SDCA Subcommittee, CII Eastern Region & Managing Director, Haldia Petrochemicals Limited mentioned the current importance of coal to generate power from thermal plants. He highlighted that the lack of provision for foreign currency borrowing and the lack of duty differential on naptha and polymers denies a level playing ground for the Indian companies vis-à-vis their foreign counterparts. He also suggested that the factories of the various value added petroleum derivatives like rubber and plastic needs to be established nearer to the refineries to reduce the cost. Mr Dilip P Sahasrabudhe, Executive Director-Basin Manager, ONGC gave an enriching insight into the global and national challenges regarding oil and gas. He stated that the average time for total depletion of oil reserves is 46.6 years globally and 23 years for India, estimated at the current rate of production and consumption. According to him huge investment in exploration is required to discover new oil basins and alleviate the recovery rate from the existing basins. Dr S K Saha, Zonal Head, GAIL (India) Limited shed light on the rising importance of gas as a fuel. He announced the construction of 2050 km of Jagdhishpur - Haldia Gas Pipeline to provide gas to the eastern region including Pipe Natural Gas (PNG) for the households and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for automobiles. Mr Siddhartha K Paul, Chief Technical Manager, Indian Oil Corporation, discussed the various challenges and solutions developed at the crude oil refinery of Indian Oil Corporation Limited at Haldia. • The fourth day of Biz Bridge 2011 deliberated on the emerging scenario in mining, metals & environment (Nov 12, 2011) Addressing the Conference on Mining, Metals and Environment coinciding with the Biz Bridge 2011, Mr H M Nerurkar, Co-Chairman, CII Manufacturing Council & Chairman, Mining & Metals Subcommittee, CII Eastern Region and Managing Director, Tata Steel very specifically pointed out the challenges and deterrents in the path of mining and metals industry of the country. Despite having rich metal and mineral resource, India lags behind other countries like China, Australia, South Africa and Brazil which have developed on the basis of minerals. Mr Nerurkar said that the GDP contribution by the mining industry has gone down noticeably. He specified lack of comprehensive regulatory policies, poor infrastructure, insufficient skilled manpower and unavailability of concrete data as the key hindrances in the path of growth of this sector. Good policies need to be charted out and applied reasonably for this sector to benefit, robust infrastructure needs to be developed and young, energetic, knowledgeable people must be attracted to work in this sector. Government authorities and the related agencies like GSI etc. need to work toward exploration of the resources to the fullest. He suggested that the industry should aim at 10% GDP contribution in the coming years. Mr Shakeel Ahmed, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Ltd expressed his concern over the slow pace of growth of the mining and minerals sector attributing to only about 2.25% of GDP growth. Talking of the weaknesses in this field he firstly referred to India as an underexplored country with ample resources yet to be explored. Strong regulatory regime is to be set up as the existing ones are not that helpful. Another important challenge that he pointed out was the unruly time and indecision regarding the mining lease. Mr Ahmed urged CII to act in concern to expedite the process. Moreover he added that the ruling state government must sincerely put an effort to utilize the royalty received from the mines solely for the development of the region. According to Mr Ahmed, environment must not act as an obstacle in the path of establishing new mines. An effective way to balance the two fields is to plant more trees than the ones felled. Employment and growth must be the key concern alongside sustainability of environment. Talent deficit also need to be fulfilled by enhancing the quality of lifestyle in and around the mines. The industry should aim at increasing the GDP contribution to about 10%. Mr Biswadip Gupta, Joint Managing Director & CEO, JSW Bengal Steel Ltd. held technology and cost competitiveness as the areas that need immediate intervention. Technological advancement is the need of the hour. Technology should be utilized appropriately in order to refine the coarse resources. Lot of work has already being started. Tie ups with technologically advanced countries can be highly beneficial. Talking of the cost competitiveness he said that although the industry does not have any control on the input costs, bringing technology into effective action can make the industry globally competitive. He stressed that only after exploring the domestic markets, manufacturers must step into the international market. Mr Naushad A Ansari, Executive Director & Member of the Board, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. through an extensive presentation depicted the essential challenges lying in front of the mining and metals industry specially steel. Availability of raw materials is an area of great concern for the industry. Mostly the mines due to their presence in the jungle areas cause a lot problem in extracting the raw materials. Land identification process has to be started. The infertile land must be identified and procured for the putting up of factories. Talent management is another aspect that needs immediate attention. Mr Srikumar Menon, Managing Director, BOC India Pvt. Ltd. shared his insights on the role of gas industry for the development of metals and mining industry while Mr S K Bhaumik, Senior Vice President-Flat Products, Danielli India Ltd. talked of quality enhancement and increasing production capacity through technology. Addressing the Conference on Mining, Metals and Environment coinciding with the Biz Bridge 2011, Mr H M Nerurkar, Co-Chairman, CII Manufacturing Council & Chairman, Mining & Metals Subcommittee, CII Eastern Region and Managing Director, Tata Steel very specifically pointed out the challenges and deterrents in the path of mining and metals industry of the country. Despite having rich metal and mineral resource, India lags behind other countries like China, Australia, South Africa and Brazil which have developed on the basis of minerals. Mr Nerurkar said that the GDP contribution by the mining industry has gone down noticeably. He specified lack of comprehensive regulatory policies, poor infrastructure, insufficient skilled manpower and unavailability of concrete data as the key hindrances in the path of growth of this sector. Good policies need to be charted out and applied reasonably for this sector to benefit, robust infrastructure needs to be developed and young, energetic, knowledgeable people must be attracted to work in this sector. Government authorities and the related agencies like GSI etc. need to work toward exploration of the resources to the fullest. He suggested that the industry should aim at 10% GDP contribution in the coming years. Mr Shakeel Ahmed, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Ltd expressed his concern over the slow pace of growth of the mining and minerals sector attributing to only about 2.25% of GDP growth. Talking of the weaknesses in this field he firstly referred to India as an underexplored country with ample resources yet to be explored. Strong regulatory regime is to be set up as the existing ones are not that helpful. Another important challenge that he pointed out was the unruly time and indecision regarding the mining lease. Mr Ahmed urged CII to act in concern to expedite the process. Moreover he added that the ruling state government must sincerely put an effort to utilize the royalty received from the mines solely for the development of the region. According to Mr Ahmed, environment must not act as an obstacle in the path of establishing new mines. An effective way to balance the two fields is to plant more trees than the ones felled. Employment and growth must be the key concern alongside sustainability of environment. Talent deficit also need to be fulfilled by enhancing the quality of lifestyle in and around the mines. The industry should aim at increasing the GDP contribution to about 10%. Mr Biswadip Gupta, Joint Managing Director & CEO, JSW Bengal Steel Ltd. held technology and cost competitiveness as the areas that need immediate intervention. Technological advancement is the need of the hour. Technology should be utilized appropriately in order to refine the coarse resources. Lot of work has already being started. Tie ups with technologically advanced countries can be highly beneficial. Talking of the cost competitiveness he said that although the industry does not have any control on the input costs, bringing technology into effective action can make the industry globally competitive. He stressed that only after exploring the domestic markets, manufacturers must step into the international market. Mr Naushad A Ansari, Executive Director & Member of the Board, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. through an extensive presentation depicted the essential challenges lying in front of the mining and metals industry specially steel. Availability of raw materials is an area of great concern for the industry. Mostly the mines due to their presence in the jungle areas cause a lot problem in extracting the raw materials. Land identification process has to be started. The infertile land must be identified and procured for the putting up of factories. Talent management is another aspect that needs immediate attention. Mr Srikumar Menon, Managing Director, BOC India Pvt. Ltd. shared his insights on the role of gas industry for the development of metals and mining industry while Mr S K Bhaumik, Senior Vice President-Flat Products, Danielli India Ltd. talked of quality enhancement and increasing production capacity through technology.

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