Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal on Monday said the state is aggressively promoting new entrepreneurship as part of its endeavour to be a major manufacturing hub and to cash in on the growing internal trade and services in the country.
While addressing the inaugural function of the Kerala Pavilion at the 41 st India International Trade Fair in New Delhi, the minister said the state is planning to create 1 lakh new entrepreneurs this year to produce more products of Kerala flavour.
Kerala has unique selling products based on tourism, sports and local artisans and the state is focused on marketing them nationally, the minister said. “We are planning for 6 million new SMEs this year and to start 1 lakh new enterprises. Such kinds of exhibitions are beneficial for the SMEs from the state. In every village, we are trying to create more and more entrepreneurs. We are advocating for them,” Balagopal said.
He urged Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to organize more trade fairs in different parts of the country, especially in other state capitals, to market locally-made things nationally.
“It is easy to produce something is easier than marketing it. Marketing is a difficult job. So, we need more fairs to market our locally-made things. We are requesting the Union Minister to set up such trade fairs in different parts of the country. Like the slogan says, we have to be ‘vocal about the local things’, said Balagopal.
The Kerala Pavilion at the trade fair houses around 30 stalls displaying agricultural, herbal, handloom, ayurvedic, spices and textile products
Twenty-nine States and Union Territories are participating in the event. Kerala and Uttar Pradesh are participating as Focus States in the Trade Fair. Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra are partner states. Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the 14-day mega event (IITF-2022) in New Delhi. This year’s theme of the trade fair is ‘Vocal For Local, Local to Global’.
During the inauguration ceremony, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel and Som Parkash were also present. The Trade Fair has evolved as a major event for the business community. It is a premier event organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization, the nodal trade promotion agency of the Government. The event is held every year between 14 and 27 November at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
