Hyderabad, June 24 (IANS): The government of Telangana will soon come out with a policy for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, minister for industry and information technology D. Sridhar Babu said on Monday.

Addressing the conclave on MSMEs & Inclusive Growth organised by the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), he said the policy will be placed in the Assembly during its next session.

He sought suggestions from Industry for drafting the policy, which will focus on the inclusive growth of the MSME sector.

“We want inclusive growth of MSMEs. We will strengthen them,” he said.

The minister assured the women entrepreneurs that the industrial policy will encourage them and the government will provide all the necessary support.

Sridhar Babu said the government was committed to the development of every sector. “The governments come and go, but continuity of policy is important. Our government will continue all the rightful policies of previous governments in the best interest of the industry,” he stated

He recalled that the Congress government was to identify the potential of IT in 1992 and laid the foundation for the Software Technology Park of India.

He highlighted the importance of skills and the availability of a good pool of skill sets in the state. To augment this further, the state will soon come out with a Skill University on the lines of the Indian School of Business (ISB) which will be managed and run by the Industry, he added.

Mentioning that the state is home to 200 global capability centres, he said more GCCs were expected to come up.

“We will transform our IT industry from software development to finished products industry,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said that the government is exploring possibilities of parallel rail connectivity along the 320 km long Regional Ring Road (RRR).

He said as part of the industrial development, the state would be divided into three zones. While the IT companies will be given the priority within the Outer Ring Road (ORR), other industries will be promoted in the zone between ORR and RRR. In the remaining zone, agriculture-related industries will be promoted.

Inaugurating the conclave FLO national president Joyshree Das Verma spoke about FLO’s Journey. “Our vision is the growth and inclusivity of women entrepreneurs in India,” she said.

She mentioned that MSMEs are contributing 30% of India’s GDP and 45% of manufacturing output and generating 11 crore employment.

A MoU was inked between FLO and the National Institute for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and it was exchanged by Joyshree Das Verma and Dr Glory Swarupa, Director-General Ni MSME.