Make use of the Delayed Payment Act

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: One of our member-SSI units produces zinc sulphate, which falls under the list of reserved items for SSIs. According to them, the product is being manufactured by a few large units based in Udaipur. In spite of complaints, this practice has not ended. What action can be taken against them?
— Secretary, Indian Industries Association, Muzaffarnagar

Manufacturing an item reserved for SSIs by a non-SSI unit violates the provisions of Industrial (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951.

There is no mechanism to effectively address the abuse. However, detailed guidelines were issued under OM No. 21/5(9)/2005-SSI Bd. dated September 2, 2005. This provides that a criminal complaint may be initiated against the erring company by SISI— under whose jurisdiction the violation has taken place.

The procedure is that you file the case at SISI, which would conduct an enquiry within 15 days from the date of filing. Once the violation is established, SISI would send the report (confidential) to the development commissioner SSI to seek approval for lodging the criminal complaint in the competent court.

The complaint would be lodged against the owner/ director of the offending company, in accordance with the provisions of I (D&R) Act, 1951, clause 24(2). The status report of the case would have to be sent every fortnight. Second, review of cases of violation has been made an essential item in the state advisory committee meetings, which are chaired by secretary (industries) at the state level.

In this case, you may contact: Small Industries Service Institute, 22, Godown, Industrial Estate, Jaipur-302006; Phone:0141-2212098

We are a registered SSI unit at Goa. We want to know whether the SME Development Bill 2005 has become an Act. We need this information as a Kolkata based large limited company owes us Rs 5 lakh.
—Shrikant B Parulekar, Partner, Astra Concrete Products, Goa

The SME Development Bill 2005 is yet to be ratified by Parliament. However, that does not stop you from filing your case in the facilitation council in West Bengal under ‘The Interest on Delayed Payments to Small-Scale Ancillary Industrial Undertakings Act, 1993.’ When the SMED Bill is passed, the above Act will be subsumed by the former. You may get in touch with DK Mohta, president, Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (FOSMI), 23, RN Mukherjee Road, Kolkata-700 001. Tel: 033-248-5114. FOSMI is a member of the facilitation council and will help you file your case.

The commerce ministry has prepared a list of sensitive items for WTO negotiations. We manufacture and export knit fabrics. How is the list significant for us?
—Amit Sethi, Goomber Tex, Ludhiana through email

During the recent WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, an understanding was reached, as part of the negotiations on non-agricultural market access (Nama), to allow developing countries to keep a list of not more than 10% tariff lines which would be free from ‘bindings’, ie countries could impose higher import duties if they so desire. The ministry of commerce and industry has identified 454 items as sensitive after a detailed analysis. Import duties on these would not have to be lowered.

The significance for you is two- fold: One, if you feel your product is of strategic interest or if a large number of livelihoods could be endangered if the duties are lowered, you may plead to the government for inclusion of your item in the list. Two, if your inputs/raw materials are in the list, they are most likely to attract higher duty protection. Your input costs would increase, adversely affecting your competitiveness. The list is accessible at http://www.smenetwork.net