Srinagar, Nov 16 (KNN) Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and UT of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) signed an agreement for SIDBI Cluster Development Fund (SCDF) to accelerate MSME Cluster infrastructure development in J&K.

Both the parties have partnered for supporting modernization/ upgradation or establishment of infrastructure / development of MSME Cluster related infrastructure in the Jammu & Kashmir region, as per the press release.

SCDF would facilitate to augment the low cost, longer repayment funds for holistic coverage of cluster development projects falling under three broad categories viz (1) Industrial and Agri-allied sectors in the MSME eco-space, (2) Social Sector projects in and around MSME clusters and (3) Connectivity to MSME Clusters.

The agreement was signed at office Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir in the presence of Manoj Sinha, LG UT of J&K and S Ramann, CMD SIDBI.

While SIDBI shall facilitate availability of SCDF to enhance infrastructure development of both greenfield (induced clusters) and brownfield clusters, Finance Department, Jammu & Kashmir would act as nodal agency to coordinate and submit the proposals to be considered under SCDF.

On this occasion Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI said, “We are poised to be an ever strong and vibrant MSME ecosystem in the country and more so in Jammu and Kashmir. To further strengthen the infrastructure gap, SIDBI join hands with State government and Union Territories and transforming both hard and soft infrastructure shall be mainstay of such collaborations. This structured support will lend impetus to the culture of enterprise development in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Dr S.S. Acharya, CGM SIDBI while signing the Master Agreement reiterated SIDBI’s commitment for MSMEs and vision to take forward the industrial growth in the country.  We envision that by creating such focused MSME infrastructure development fund, States and Union Territories may improve the ease of doing business and aspire youth to become entrepreneurs and be a job creator than job seeker.

Santosh D Vaidya, IAS Principal Secretary to Govt., Finance Department expressed happiness at the signing of Agreement with SIDBI and said, “This partnership with SIDBI shall lead to many innovative infrastructure improvement and development in the UT and in overall growth of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Jammu & Kashmir. It will be an endeavour to build processes and systems with the support of SIDBI to utilize SCDF by key departments supporting MSMEs like Industries and Commerce, Tourism, Power and Skill Development etc.”

(KNN Bureau)