New Delhi, Sep 23 (KNN) The National SC/ST Hub under the Ministry of MSME will be launched on October 8, 2016 in Ludhiana which aims towards promoting the SC/ST entrepreneurs.

This was announced during the first meeting of the National High Power Committee on SC/ST Hub meeting headed by Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for MSME held in the national capital on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mishra said that the National SC/ST Hub will be launched soon within a record time of 7 months from the announcement in the budget speech of 2016-17.

He further said that his Ministry has made an initial allotment of allocation of Rs. 490 crore for the period 2016-2020 for the National SC/ST Hub. The Hub would primarily aid in strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry best practices etc. The hub would operate from National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Headquarters in Delhi, supported by a special cell created for this purpose.

For the smooth functioning of the Hub, various committees were constituted viz, High powered Monitoring Committee headed by Minister for MSME, Advisory Committee headed by Shri Milind Kamble, President DICCI, Empowered project Approval Committee headed by Secretary, MSME.

Representatives of Industry associations, DICCI, CII, FICCI, FISME, India SME Forum etc unanimously welcomed the new initiative of Government of India for creation of this Hub and offered their suggestions as to what activities could be undertaken by this Hub to bridge the gap between the supply and demand side. (KNN Bureau)