The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) partnering Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Institute of Management Science (BIMS), Kolkata Kendra organized the Inaugural edition of the annual Manufacturing Conclave titled “The Power of Innovation in Manufacturing – Driving India’s Growth in the 21st Century” on 17th and 18th February 2017 at Williamson Magor Hall, The Bengal Chamber, Kolkata.

The objective of organizing this Conclave was to bring together the large, medium and small enterprises on a single platform and enable them to share their best practices, while exchanging knowledge and discussing the present ecosystem for manufacturing in India and in the regional context, in the East and West Bengal. How Innovation could play a significant role in the progress and development of the Manufacturing sector in the near future, was a principal area of focus. Besides, this Conclave has been creating a benchmark especially for the MSME sector by enabling them to share best Case Study presentations of some of the prominent MSME organizations in the ninth edition of the annual MSME Excellence Award programme which the Chamber organized as part of the two day annual Manufacturing Conclave.

The Key Speakers of the Conclave were:

Shri Giriraj Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Government of India

Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee (Retd), Chairman, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Institute of Management Science (BIMS), Kolkata Kendra

Col Sabyasachi Bagchi, Chairman, West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (WBSIDC Ltd), Government of West Bengal

Commodore Ratnakar Ghosh, IN (Retd),Chairman and Managing Director and Director (Shipbuilding),Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE Ltd),Ministry of Defence, Government of India

Rear Admiral A K Verma, VSM, IN (Retd), Former Chairman and Managing Director, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE Ltd), Kolkata, Ministry of Defence, Government of India

Shri Giriraj Singh spoke about the special emphasis given to the MSME sector since this is a most important segment for the development and growth of industry post globalization. The Minister observed that the small scale industries play a pivotal role for further industrialization and they are driven by technology, integrated business networks, cluster initiatives, etc. and based on these observations, the Hon’ble Minister mentioned that the Ministry of MSME is taking a slew of measures to boost the MSME sector and to imbibe in them the concept of business globalization which may help them to be more competitive in the global business scenario.

Shri Singh also spoke about the initiatives taken by the Central Government under the wing of the Ministry of MSME, Government of India to form MSME Clusters in different parts of India with special emphasis on West Bengal and other parts of the Eastern Region. He said that there are different places in West Bengal and other parts of the Eastern Region where the Central Government, with the help of the respective State Governments, is planning to set up MSME Hubs for furthering development and growth of the MSME sector, which in turn would catalyze significant development and growth in the Indian Economy.

The Chamber, as part of the annual Manufacturing Conclave, also organized the ninth edition of the annual MSME Excellence Awards and the objective of organizing this award programme was to acknowledge and reward the MSMEs based on their best Case Study Presentations and also to create a benchmark for them for nurturing their own development and growth.

The panel of judges for this year’s award programme was headed by Dr Anjan Ghosh, Former Vice President, Total Quality Management, Exide Industries Limited. The other judges were Mr Pritish K Sen, Head – Market Research & External Affairs, M&S Division, Tata Steel Limited; Mr P N Gupta, Former Consultant – Industrial Engineering and Productivity, Tata Steel Processing And Distribution Limited (TSPDL) and Prof (Dr) Siddhartha Das, Professor – Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT, Kharagpur).

The judges selected the three best case study presentations under Steel & Manufacturing Category and two best case study presentations under Service Category out of a series of presentations made by the participating MSMEs. Following were the MSMEs which won the Award along with the Certificate of Best Case Study Presentation.

Steel & Manufacturing Category:

- Fibro Plastichem India Pvt Ltd
- Pharma Impex Laboratories Pvt Ltd
- Anmol Feeds Pvt Ltd

Service Category:

- AptSource Software Pvt Ltd
- Girish Chandra Ghosh & GGS

The panel of judges awarded the above companies under the Steel and Manufacturing Category because the panel found that these companies had performed “the best” in comparison with other manufacturing companies (who participated for the MSME Award) in areas like General Presentation, Quality Upgradation, Improvement of Services, Enhancement of Production and Productivity, Growth and Profitability and Compatibility of the best practices with sustainability, ambience, environment & pollution control and energy management. The same criteria were followed in finalizing the award winners in the Service Category.

Besides, the Chamber had circulated feedback forms in the Conclave. The overwhelming delegate feedback was that the programme was most positive in nature and was an excellent learning experience and networking forum. The Conclave was attended by well over 350 delegates from industry representing sectors like manufacturing, engineering, petrochemicals, chemicals, financial institutions, bankers and others.