CHENNAI, OCT 19: The centre will soon amend the Industries Development and Regulation Act 1951, to remove lacunae which had resulted in the government investing in non-essential business sectors, the Industry Minister, Murasoli Maran, said today."The government got into manufacture of blades, soaps and chappals, thanks to certain provisions in the Act. we want to change this in tune with the new industrial policy," the minister said at the foundation stone-laying function for a computer-aided design, manufacturing and research centre here.He said an expert committee had been formed to review the Industrial Development Act and suggest ways to modify, amend and simplify it `to give a boost to the private industrial sector'.The government, he said, was also talking to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to work out a soft loan scheme for the technological up gradation of small scale units.Pointing out that the computer-aided centre would benefit the small scale industry in a big way, the minister asserted that the government was committed to preparing the small sector to meet the challenges of liberalisation.An inter-ministerial steering committee had been set up to facilitate speedy implementation of the Abid Hussain committee report, which recommended wide ranging measures to promote the small sector.Maran said the computer-aided centre was being set up to provide state-of-the-art technological services and products to the small scale industry and to fill the growing need for tooling facilities among SSIs.With the arrival of global automobile manufacturers in the country, the demand for tooling and accessories to the local industry, was shooting up, he said.The present demand for tooling in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states alone was valued at Rs 505 crore per annum and was likely to touch Rs 863 crore at the turn of the century.On the other hand, the supply was only for Rs 206 crore which might go up to Rs 263 crore by 2001, leaving a gap of Rs 600 crore by then. The Rs 49 crore computer centre would provide centralised facilities to industrial units for computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), besides providing facilities for design assistance and training of skilled personnel.
