New Delhi, Apr 25 (KNN) Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma will review the problems faced by industries in the southern states at a meeting at Kovalam in Kerala tomorrow.
 
Industry ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala will be present at the meeting that will discuss in particular the problems faced by the industries such as textiles, engineering and manufacturing, officials said here today.
 
The problems faced by the plantation sector would also come up for discussion; they said adding decline in exports of several goods including the engineering and agriculture has hit the exporters, particularly in the small and medium scale enterprises. Moreover, lack of access to cheap credit is one of the bottlenecks along with high cost of transactions. 
       
Sharma will also review the issues faced by exporters at the customs and ports authorities and convey the same to Finance Minister P Chidambaram.  Almost the entire southern India is currently reeling under a severe power crisis.
      
The minister will take stock of the functioning of the various central schemes related to commodity exports and subsidies.   

He will also meet Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and present the Spice Export Awards for 2010-11 and 2011-12 at Kovalam.  (KNN)