The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I)organized the second edition of its two day Annual Manufacturing and MSME Conclave titled “Competence Building for Manufacturing Emphasizing MSMEs“on 2ndand 3rd February 2018 in the Chamber premises.

The Conclave was organized with the participation of senior representatives from the Central and State Governments, Industry leaders, MSMEs, Academia, Experts, etc. The objective of organizing this Conclave was to create a platform for the large industries as well as for the MSMEs to come and share their best practices, the opportunities and challenges being faced by them in their regular business operations and especially on capacity/ competence building for the manufacturing industries, particularly the MSMEs.

The key speakers of the Conclave were:

- Prof Hamish L Fraser, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering and Director, Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials (CAMM), Ohio State University (OSU)
- Col Sabyasachi Bagchi, Chairman, West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (WBSIDC Ltd), Government of West Bengal
- Shri S Bandyopadhyay, Director – Eastern Zone, Weavers’ Service Centre, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India
- Shri Virendra Kumar, Deputy Director (Handicrafts) and In-charge - Eastern Region, Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts),Ministry of Textiles, Government of India
- Air Cmde B K Gairola, Principal Director – Indigenization, Directorate of Indigenization, Indian Air Force (IAF)
- Cmdr Ratnakar Ghosh, Former Director – Ship Building, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE Ltd)

During the Conclave of two days, emphasis was given to the MSME sector since this is a most important segment for the overall development and growth of industry post globalization. The small scale industries play a pivotal role in further industrialization and they are driven by technology, integrated business networks, cluster initiatives, etc.

Apart from the above, the Conclave this year focused on the formation of MSME Clusters in different parts of India with special emphasis on West Bengal and other parts of the Eastern Region. There are different places in West Bengal and other parts of the Eastern Region where the Central Government, with the help of respective State Governments, is planning to set up MSME Hubs for catalyzing development and growth of the MSME sector, which in turn would bring significant development and growth in the Indian economy.

Apart from the above, the Chamber, as part of the two day annual Manufacturing and MSME Conclave, also organized the tenth edition of the annual MSME Excellence Awards. 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); Prof (Dr) Siddhartha Das, Professor – Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT, Kharagpur) andDr Suman K Mukerjee, Director General, Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC).

The judges selected the two best case study presentations under Steel & Manufacturing Category and one best case study presentation 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 Certificates of Best Case Study Presentations.

Steel & Manufacturing Category:
- IMERYS Steel Castings Pvt Ltd
- Neogi Technologies and Research Pvt Ltd

Service Category:
- Gitanjali Solar Enterprise

Special Recognition:
- I & B Engineers Pvt Ltd

The panel of judges awarded the above companies under the Steel and Manufacturing Category because according to the jury 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. A similar logic was followed for the Service Category and the Special Recognition awards.

The feedback from the delegates was that the programme was an excellent learning experience and a great networking forum. The Conclave was attended by over 250 delegates representing sectors like engineering, manufacturing, financial institutions, banking and others.