CII, DSIR to float organisation for technology export

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31. The apex chamber of commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has joined hands with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), in the Science and Technology Ministry, to float a new organisation exclusively to promote export of technologies and technology-intensive products.

The move assumes importance because though a high potential for technology exports exists in several areas of the industry, no significant achievement has been made in tapping it so far, mainly because a focussed effort has not been made.

To begin with, the CII-DSIR joint venture will focus on providing information services, and on organising international and domestic exhibitions, fairs, workshops and focussed buyer-seller meets.

A task force set up in mid-1997, under the chairmanship of Mr. N. Vittal, who was then the Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board, had concluded that the country could increase its technology exports several folds if only there was some institutional mechanism to promote it.

While technology-intensive exports accounted for about 10 to 14 per cent of the country's total exports, the export of real technology accounted for much less - around 0.15 per cent.

The experts' panel came to the conclusion that the performance could be enhanced and India should be able to achieve 2 per cent share of global technology exports without much problem.

The new Technology Export Development Organisation would cover a wide spectrum of activities ranging from computers, software, telecommunications, micro-electronics, civil aviation, biotechnology, envirotech to agro technology, chemicals and allied fields, and plant designing, detailed engineering, turnkey projects and manpower training.

In recent years, the CII has also signed memoranda of understanding and agreements with several institutions and agencies, both abroad and within the country to promote technology, technology development and technology networking in industry.

The agencies with which such tie-ups have been made include Fraunhofer Gesellchaft, Fraunhofer Management, Steinbeis Foundation for Economic Promotion, Aachem Technological University of Germany, the Spanish Association of New Technologies, the Manufacturers' Association of Israel and the Israel Export Institute.

In India, such agreements have been entered into with the Technology Development Board under the Science and Technology Ministry and the Andhra Pradesh Government.

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