Industrial Promotion Act needs amendments: Rishad
Many of our industries need to be modernized and upgraded, and it is time that we consider making relevant changes to the Industrial Promotion Act to sustain the competitive advantage of our industries both here and abroad, Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said.
Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the launch event of the eighth SME INOEX 2013 Machinery, Technology, Material and Service Exhibition yesterday, to be held in October in Colombo.
The INOEX is a leading annual event in Sri Lanka’s industry and SME calendar. The event is organized by SMED-SME development arm of Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL).
The October 11-13 event, scheduled to be held at Sri Lanka Exhibition & Convention Centre, will host exhibitors from India with more than 100 local exhibitor stalls. 40 foreign participants already confirmed of their attendance. Several Chinese and Malaysian firms too have expressed their willingness to take part.
“The National Enterprise Development Authority, under our Ministry implements many programs for SME and Micro sectors, the leading project being the series of SMILE funding in which our SMEs are given financial and other capacity assistance. In fact my Ministry’s role extends beyond SMEs. According to the Industrial Production Index of 2012, textile, paper products, chemical products and fabricated metal, reported growth rates, over of 10 percent.
“Our overall industry sector itself was able to show an impressive growth rate of 10.3 percent in 2012. I am pleased to state, that within this, processing industries, grew by 6.5 percent, factory industries by 5.2 percent and cottage industries grew by 4.6 percent in the same year.