Plan Review Conference for officers of Industries from all districts

The first Plan Review Conference of FY 2023-24 was held June 16, 2023, at the Institute for Management in Government (IMG), Thiruvananthapura. The Director, Industries & Commerce Shri S Harikishore IAS welcomed the representatives of District Industries Centers from all districts and presented the agenda for the meeting. The Director appreciated all the GMs and other officials for their commendable work towards achieving the success of Year of enterprises 2022-23 campaign and further requested them to continue their good work towards the Sustainability, Year of Enterprises 2.0, Mission 1000, Make in Kerala, and all other activities which are scheduled during FY 2023-24. During the meeting, suggestions/ feedback on the Make in Kerala initiative, online portals for Mission 1000 and Sustainability data entry were also received from the districts.

Shri Suman Billa IAS, Principal Secretary for Dept of Industries & Commerce, also spoke during the meeting on the importance of maintaining good relations with the entrepreneurs and establishing ground level connect with them to understand their issues and suggest solutions.

District Review at Kollam

The first District Review was held at Nani Hotel, Kollam on June 19, 2023, under the chairmanship of Shri Suman Billa IAS, Principal Secretary for Dept of Industries & Commerce. The agenda of the meeting was to review the performance of the District during the FY2022-2023 and interact with the Enterprise Development Executives, IEOs and ADIOs in the district. The meeting started at 10.30 am, during which the District General Manager, Shri Biju welcomed the gathering and gave a presentation highlighting the performance of the district during the past year. It was followed by a presentation by the ADIO, Kollam Shri Anil on the challenges and proposed solutions for the issues faced by the entrepreneurs within the district. 

The Director, Industries and Commerce Shri S Harikishore IAS appreciated the performance of the district and emphasized the importance of the Sustainability campaign to be conducted by revisiting the enterprises formed as part of the Year of Enterprises 2022-23. The Principal Secretary interacted with the EDEs and IEOs to understand the field level activities conducted by them for assisting the entrepreneurs. He further directed the officials to establish strong connect with the entrepreneurs and provide overall handholding to them during all stages of setting up of the enterprises. He also spoke about the importance of promoting the low interest loans to the entrepreneurs and limit them from using their own money to run their businesses.

ONDC – Kerala Government MoU signing event

The Government of Kerala initiated the Year of Enterprises 2022-23 with the aim of establishing one lakh new enterprises within a year. This endeavor has been successful, resulting in the creation of 139,840 new enterprises in FY 2022-23, which in turn generated over 3 lakh job opportunities. Looking ahead to FY 2023-24, our focus is to strengthen the ecosystem and ensure the sustained growth of these newly established enterprises.

In line with our vision, the Government is collaborating with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an initiative by the Government of India. ONDC enables network-enabled applications to discover and engage in local commerce across various segments. The platform seeks to create fresh opportunities, reduce digital monopolies, and support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as well as small traders in accessing online platforms.

To solidify the Government’s commitment to the ONDC programme, an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Kerala Government and ONDC on June 23, 2023 at Hilton Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram. The programme started at 02.30 pm. Shri Suman Billa IAS, Principal Secretary for Dept of Industries & Commerce welcomed the gathering. The presidential address was given by the Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Shri Antony Raju and the inaugural address was given by the Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Law & Coir, Shri P Rajeeve. Shri V P Joy IAS, Chief Secretary, Shri APM Mohammed Hanish IAS Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Industries Shri S Harikishore IAS, Director, Industries & Commerce, Smt. Annie Jula IAS Officer in Special Duty, Industries & Commerce, representatives from 21 departments, including fisheries, and agriculture, were present at the event.

At present, around 220 products from nine PSUs are being onboarded in the online platform. Officials from the ONDC including the Chief Executive Officer, Shri Thampy Koshy conducted awareness sessions introducing ONDC and highlighting the potential of e-commerce. ONDC also committed to conduct taluk level interventions with Industries Department to promote the digital market approach and onboard more enterprises into ONDC. The programme ended at 05 pm.

International MSME Day 2023 event

As part of celebrating the International MSME Day 2023, a half day-long event was conducted at the Apollo Dimora Hotel, Thiruvananthapuram on June 27, 2023, at 10.15 am. Shri Suman Billa IAS, Principal Secretary for Dept of Industries & Commerce welcomed the gathering. The event was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Law & Coir, Shri P Rajeeve and the presidential address was given by the Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Shri Antony Raju. Chief Secretary, . Shri V P Joy IAS, Chief Secretary, Shri APM Mohammed Hanish IAS Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Industries Shri S Harikishore IAS, Director, Industries & Commerce, Smt. Annie Jula IAS Officer in Special Duty, Industries & Commerce, representatives from SLBC, RIAB, KINFRA, KSSIA, CII, FICCI and TiE Kerala were present at the event.

As part of the event, a presentation on the “MSME ecosystem in Kerala” was made by the Joint Director, Industries Shri Rajeev G. A panel discussion on the “MSME ecosystem of 4 key sectors and way forward” was conducted. Successful entrepreneurs from the fields of Defense & Aerospace, Ayurveda & Biotechnology, ESDM and Medical Devices participated in the session, which was moderated by Director, Trinity College, Shri Arun Surendran. The programme concluded at 02 pm.

Convergence Meeting with Kudumbasree

“She Starts” – a joint initiative of Industries Department and LSGD, envisages to commence at least 40,000 enterprises run by the Auxiliary Group members of Kudumbasree during the FY2023-24. The Industries Department shall offer overall handholding support with the help of the Enterprise Development Executives at all local bodies and provide trainings to the aspirant entrepreneurs among the auxiliary group members.

A convergence and orientation meeting was held on May 30, 2023, for the officials of Kudumbasree and Industries Department as part of She Starts campaign. The agenda of the meeting was to brief the participants about the activities to be conducted as part of the campaign during this financial year. Director, Industries Shri S Harikishore IAS welcomed the gathering and made a presentation on the activities to be conducted as part of the campaign and the duties and responsibilities of the officials of both sides. Executive Director, Kudumbasree Smt. Anu Kumari IAS welcomed the initiative to improve the convergence between the two departments.