WB-SUPRIYO-FUNDS-MSME

Bringing Central funds to Bengal a top priority : Supriyo
    Kharagpur (WB), Feb 4 (PTI) Union Minister Babul
Supriyo has said bringing Central funds to West Bengal remains
one of his most important endeavours.
    Supriyo made this comments on Sunday while attending
the ground breaking ceremony of the Industrial Research and
Innovation Unit for MSMEs and Start-ups at IIT Kharagpur
Sunday, stated to be the first one in eastern India.
    "I am happy to give away the funds from my ministry
because bringing Central funds to West Bengal is one of the
most important endeavours I have set for myself," the Union
Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
said.
    While the total cost of the proposed project is pegged
at Rs. 65.19 crore, the ministry has granted an initial
funding of Rs 47.62 crore.
    Additional funding of Rs 17.57 crore is being raised
from the industrial partners through projects.
    The IIT Kharagpur has already provided land,
technological and infrastructural support to the extent of Rs
25 crore.
    Supriyo, who had first mooted the project stated to be
eastern India's first such one, recalled that after taking
over charge he came across a small map which showed the
centres of excellence in the capital goods sector were either
located in the western or southern parts of country and there
wasn't a single one in the eastern parts.
    Wondering why there was no such centres of excellence
in East, for which his ministry would provide 80 per cent of
the grant, he then spoke to IIT KGP Director Prof P P
Chakrabarti regarding this, the minister informed.
    "What you will see in the MSME sector in the next few
years are all going to be part of the work that we are putting
in jointly," Supriyo said.
    He said now the challenge remained for the MSME
Research and Innovation hub to ensure MSMEs and the industrial
partners can have state-of-the-art R&D facilities so that they
can deliver quality products with high-end technologies at an
affordable and competitive price.
    The 40000 sq-ft Industrial Research and Innovation
Unit will house high-end industrial equipment such as
robotic welding facility, industry scale CT scan machine,
Robotic 3D laser scanner and many more.
    It will support activities such as design, fabrication
and automation of manufacturing, digital manufacturing and IoT
(internet of Things).
    "We have brought in people from various domains such
as materials, processes, designers, AI and data
sciences and also formed a consortium including industries,
DHI and our board of governors to ensure sustainability of
this initiative," Chakrabarti said.
    "One of our goals is to facilitate inventing Make in
India products for India and abroad through this Innovation
Centre," he said. PTI SUS
RG RG