The seminar, which are a part of the series called ‘Soft Interventions’, was held with a purpose of benefiting the printing and packaging entrepreneurs by increasing the competitiveness of Micro and Small Units of printing and packaging cluster in Ludhiana.

Speaking on the occasion, Kamal Chopra, general secretary, OPA (Ludhiana), said, “With the approval of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Government of India, more global printing companies are looking to invest in India which will take the competition to greater heights."

He further added, “Working in cluster is the only solution for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to tackle this situation in a better and efficient way.”

Throwing light on government initiatives, S S Dhillon, director, MSME Ludhiana, said, “The Government of India has many Industrial Area Development Schemes and a number of industry specific schemes which provide infrastructure support for industrial development. Punjab has by and large not availed the opportunities offered by these schemes to upgrade its infrastructure.”

He quoted the example of printing and packaging cluster at Karnal, Haryana which was initiated taking a cue from Ludhiana cluster. “Today it is one of the promising cluster and they may complete their CFC shortly,” added Dhillon.

Also, a website for printing and packaging cluster of Ludhiana was launched by Dhillon at the occasion. Explaining about the use of website, Parveen Aggarwal, president, OPA, said, “This website will work as a platform for the printing and packaging entrepreneurs of Ludhiana to put forward their requirements and problems. At the same time we will update the available schemes and policies of the various state and central government departments, for the overall knowledge of the entrepreneurs.”

The website is the part of Soft Interventions seminars for the printing and packaging cluster at Ludhiana. This portal (www.ppcludhiana.com) provides complete details on process of cluster formation, trade and industry news, detail about upcoming events and proceedings of the meetings held. The website will also have database of the printers of Ludhiana.