Puducherry Jul 20 (PTI) Puducherry Industries Minister A Namassivayam on Thursday said the Union territorial government is industry-friendly and is implementing schemes to encourage entrepreneurs on line with the strategies and directives of the Centre.

Inaugurating the 'Centre of Excellence for capacity building' to benefit Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) launched by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, he said, "Entrepreneurs intending to set up MSMEs could go ahead with their projects. The units can start functioning and the formal approval from the government could be sought after three years."

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"We would also extend various incentives for the MSMEs as our intention is to encourage industrialisation in Puducherry to augment the revenue and generate jobs for the youth," Namassivayam said.

The 750 acre site available in Sedarapet near Puducherry would be used under Special Economic Zone for allocation of industrial plots to entrepreneurs, he said and added that steps are being taken to improve roads, power situation and other amenities in industrial estates in neighbouring Mettupalayam, Thattanchavady and Thirubhuvanai.

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The Industries Minister recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark during his visit to the Union Territory a few years ago that "Puducherry would emerge as BEST Union Territory by achieving great results in business, education, spiritual field and tourism".

Namassivayam said that the administration had evolved schemes to set up textile park, IT industries and promote tourism. These projects would come up on the sprawling sites where the government owned AFT Mills, Swadeshi Cotton Mills and Bharathi Mills are situated. The textile industries are now closed and the government had decided to use the sites for the textile park, Information Technology enterprises and also to set up tourism related infrastructures, he said.

CII Principal Advisor S Ragupathy said the Centre of Excellence unveiled today was the first of its kind and has several unique features.

CII (Southern Region) chairman Kamal Bali, deputy chairperson R Nandhini and Puducherry unit of CII chairman A Joseph Rozario were among those who spoke.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)