MSME Ministry’s Tech Centres begin recovery from Covid slump as revenue, number of trainees jump in FY22

Skill, labour, talent for MSMEs: MSME Technology Centres or TCs (earlier known as Tool Rooms) under the MSME Ministry have started to pull out of their Covid-induced slump as the total number of trainees trained across 18 TCs in the financial year 2021-22 registered an 8 per cent jump to 1,44,224 from 1,33,301 in FY21. During Covid year, the number had dropped by 51 per cent from 2,73,437 trainees trained in FY20, data from MSME Dashboard showed. Likewise, the aggregate revenue of all TCs also posted a recovery of 11 per cent to Rs 216.66 crore in FY22 from Rs 195.19 crore in FY21 which had declined 44.3 per cent from Rs 350.93 crore in FY20.

Moreover, the number of MSMEs assisted through 18 TCs also recovered slightly by 13.3 per cent to 31,554 units in FY22 from 27,831 units in FY21. The number of units assisted in FY20 stood at 43,762. However, the growth in trainees trained, revenues, and units assisted in FY22 was still the second-lowest in seven years since FY16, data showed.

The 18 TCs are scattered across Kolkata, Ludhiana, Indore, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Jamshedpur, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Jalandhar, Hyderabad, Ramnagar (Uttarakhand), Mumbai, Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh), Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh), Agra (two centres), Meerut, and Chennai. Out of 18, 10 TCs provide technological support to MSMEs with designing and manufacturing of tools, precision components, moulds, dies, etc. These TCs also provide skilled manpower in the areas of tool engineering and the manufacturing sector. 

The other eight TCs support MSMEs in electronics, electrical measuring instruments, fragrance & flavour, glass, footwear & sports goods, and forging & foundry sectors to develop and upgrade sector-specific technologies, processes, and products apart from training. According to the MSME Ministry’s 2021-22 annual report, 76 courses developed in compliance with National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) are offered at TCs.

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To augment the network of 18 TCs, the government had launched the Technology Centre Systems Programme (TCSP) in January 2015 to set up 15 additional TCs with a total cost of Rs 2,200 crore including Rs 20 crore assistance from the World Bank. However, work at only five (Bhiwadi, Pudi, Bhopal, Rohtak, and Puducherry) of them has been completed. The programme was scheduled to end by FY21. 

Work at new proposed centres in Durg (Chhattisgarh), Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Kochi, Patna, and Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu), Imphal, Bengaluru, Greater Noida, and Sitarganj, (Uttarakhand) was still under implementation, MSME Minister Narayan Rane in Rajya Sabha had informed Rajya Sabha in February this year. At TC Kanpur, civil infrastructure work was completed and around 85 per cent of the training machines required were installed, the minister had said.