OPA takes advantage of govt scheme, helps printers

The Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, has the international cooperation scheme, under which micro, small and medium enterprises, registered under MSME are reimbursed 75% of the airfare if they travel to a foreign country to attend an exhibition. This scheme is available only for group visits organised by trade associations. Taking full advantage of the I/C scheme, in the recent times, the Ludhiana-based Offset Printers’ Association (OPA) organised group v

27 Aug 2014 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma

Both these visits were supported by the ministry, under the international cooperation scheme. “The delegates for both these visits were printers from all parts of the country who were registered under MSME,” said Kamal Chopra of OPA. “For the Chicago visit, Rs 20,77,801 grant-in-aid was received, and now, for London, we have received Rs. 9,50,000.”

Chopra said OPA has already distributed approximately Rs 1.2 crore to the printers for visiting various international exhibitions. “Perhaps we are the only association in India to utilise the scheme for the overall benefit of the printers,” he added.

The association will now distribute the Rs 9,50,000 among the 21 delegates, who visited IPEX 2014 at London in March 2014. Chopra said while the delegates were from across the country, a majority of them were from South India. “Taking into consideration the convenience of the delegates, it has been decided to organise the distribution ceremony at Tirupur in Tamil Nadu on 7 September, under the auspices of ministry of MSME. Printers from Chennai, Salem, Coimbatore, Karur, Calicut, Sivakasi, Pollachi, Bangalore, Erode and Krishnagiri are likely to participate in the event.

On the other hand, the association will distribute Rs 20,77,801 to the delegates who visited Print 13 at Chicago in September, 2013. A group of 28 printers visited the show. “The distribution ceremony will be organised on 12 October at Ludhiana,” Chopra said.