- MSMEs suffer from lack of funds. They are financially weak.
- They suffer from lack of managerial and other skills. They cannot employ highly paid officials.
- MSMEs always face tough competition from large businesses.
- They are not well equipped to make advantage of the latest technology and modern methods.
- There is only a little scope for division of labour and specialization.
- MSMEs cannot afford to spend large sums of money on research and experiments
- They cannot survive in times of adversity.
- They cannot secure cheap credit.
A grant of Rs.120000 per annum will be given to each club by the Department of Industries
& Commerce. A minimum of 10% is to be contributed by the institution. The funds can be utilized
preferably for the following purposes:
1) Entrepreneurship motivation of students.
2) Interaction of students with successful entrepreneurs/ investors / stakeholders etc.
3) Training programme on Industrial Project Preparation and Appraisal.
4) Training Programme on Project Appraisal and Entrepreneur Assessment.
5) Entrepreneurship Awareness Camps.
6) Camp on Entrepreneurial Adventures for Youth.
7) Conducting meaningful surveys related to entrepreneurial development.
8) Essential exposure visits.
Slow growth of entrepreneurship in Kerala is mainly due to the lack of ‘entrepreneurial
skill’. To overcome this problem Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Kerala
formulated a scheme to set up “Entrepreneurship Development Clubs” in schools and colleges of
the state to inculcate “Entrepreneurial Culture” amongst youth and equip them with the skills,
techniques and confidence to act as torch- bearers of “Enterprise” for the new generation.
MISSION
‘To create wealth and employment commensurate with unlimited natural and immense human
resource potential of Kerala by developing entrepreneurship in the youth’.
OBJECTIVES OF ED CLUBS
1) To nurture the latent entrepreneurial talents.
2) To educate members on various dimensions of industry.
3) To motivate the members to venture into the industrial activity.
4) To bring in successful entrepreneur and students on a common platform.
5) To induct entrepreneurial spirit in the institutions.
6) To inculcate entrepreneurial culture in students.
7) To make them aware of the unlimited developmental potential of the state.
8) To sensitize students on the real economic and industrial development scenario of the state.
9) To inculcate trustworthiness, integrity, hard work, discipline, honesty etc. as constituents of
entrepreneurship.
FUNCTIONS OF THE ED CLUBS
ED clubs have a tremendous role to play in the entrepreneurial development of Kerala. The
role of ED clubs may be understood from the functions they perform. The following are the
functions:
1) Organize workshops/ debates.
2) Organize industrial visits to business enterprise within / outside state.
3) Organize interactive sessions with successful entrepreneurs from outside as well as
within the state.
4) Exposure to national and international events in various parts of the country related to
industrial development.
5) Organize Entrepreneurship Clinics & Entrepreneur Awareness Programme.
6) To introduce talented youths to industrial research organizations.
7) To familiarize the youths to the latest developments through media.
IMPLEMENTING AGENCY
District Industries Centre (DIC) concerned will be the implementing agency. General
Manager, DIC shall advise the activities and have close liaison in conducting the activities.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
A grant of Rs.120000 per annum will be given to each club by the Department of Industries
& Commerce. A minimum of 10% is to be contributed by the institution. The funds can be utilized
preferably for the following purposes:
1) Entrepreneurship motivation of students.
2) Interaction of students with successful entrepreneurs/ investors / stakeholders etc.
3) Training programme on Industrial Project Preparation and Appraisal.
4) Training Programme on Project Appraisal and Entrepreneur Assessment.
5) Entrepreneurship Awareness Camps.
6) Camp on Entrepreneurial Adventures for Youth.
7) Conducting meaningful surveys related to entrepreneurial development.
8) Essential exposure visits.
Kerala has enormous potential to create wealth by way of exploiting the tourism potential,
deep-sea fishing and computer related industries. Kerala can succeed in many respects like
Tourism
Information Technology
Entrepreneurial Development
Channelization of Income
The industrial sector of Kerala consists of traditional industries, many medium and a few
large scale industries in the public and private sectors. The Directorate of Industries and Commerce
play an important role in industrializing the state.
A) Directorate of Industries and Commerce
The services of the director of Industries and commerce (DI&C) are stated below:
1) Co-ordinates the activities of coir Development and Handloom and Textiles.
2) Issues essentiality certificates for controlled items of raw materials.
3) Convenes State Level Committees of Sales Tax and State Invest Subsidy.
4) Acts as Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
5) Coordinates all industrial activities of the state.
6) Implements schemes as envisaged in the Industrial policy.
7) Develop small scale industries in a planned manner.
8) Acts as an interface between small scale industries and governments.
9) Keep database of small scale industrial units in Kerala.
10) Organizes technology clinic, entrepreneurship development programmes.
11) Participates in fairs, exhibitions the product of small scale units.
B) Incentives And Subsidies
Government of Kerala provides various incentives and subsidies to entrepreneurs in the state,
thereby motivating them to undertake ventures in the state.
C) Industries Promotional Institutions
In order to revitalize the economy and give a fillip to the industrial growth in the state,
government of Kerala established various industrial promotion agencies. There are specialized
Corporations sponsored by the state Government as KFC, KSIDC, KITCO, SIDCO, KINFRA,
SISI, Kerala IT mission, TECHNOPARK etc are assigned with the task of industrial promotion
especially in the private and joint sectors.
The clusters will enable SMEs to reduce cost of inputs & marketing, improve quality and build
strong brands that are all required to survive in the competitive world market. The various Cluster
Consortia are setting up ventures such as common facility centres, raw material banks etc. with
financial assistance from financial institutions.
THRUST AREAS FOR FUTURE FOCUS
The major initiatives proposed during the plan period are:
Mega Industrial parks in selected thrust sectors.
Industrial Townships.
Special Economic Zones.
Industrial corridors.
Sector specific Industrial Parks.
1) All industrial units with a capital investment of Rs.100 crores and above will be treated
as mega projects.
2) Preference will be given to the units, which use environment friendly technologies and
creating employment opportunities to local people.
3) Government will offer special package of fiscal benefits in deserving cases for specific
problems in existing large industries as decided by High Level Committee
1) District Industries Centres will be made effective for enterprise development in MSMEs.
2) Government shall focus on nurturing innovative high growth MSMEs with capacity to
compete globally on a sustained basis and ill the productivity of the MSMEs.
3) Government shall create a knowledge based pro enterprise environment that inculcates
the appropriate mindset for business, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation and eliminates
barriers to organizational growth.
4) A system of decentralized production centralized marketing, centralized designing and
centralized quality control will be actively pursued.
5) Priority will be for utilization of unused land of local bodies for setting up MSME.
6) Preference, exemption of EMD/ Security Deposit and free tender forms.
7) Directorate of Industries and commerce will be revamped so as to become an effective
organization for promotion of MSMEs.
8) Joint Inspection by all Departments/ Agencies on prior notice will be encouraged, self
regulation and certification would be implemented in the place Inspector Raj.
