CRN Network, December 17, 2009, 1700 hrs
Under Project Vikas, the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) through its Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), G-Tech Info Solutions and Microsoft India have launched a gamut of online solutions for the textile manufacturing SMEs in Tirupur.
The solutions include an Online Desktop by Airtel, Hosted e-mail by Global Outlook and Unified Communications by Wipro. All these solutions are aimed at enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the cluster. The availability of the online solutions also means that the manufacturers now have the option of selecting the relevant hosted solutions and take advantage of the pay-per-use, rather than installing an on-premise solution.
Said A Shaktivel, President, Tirupur Exporters Association, “We are proud of our partnership with Microsoft India through Project Vikas which has been instrumental in the cluster’s development through ICT inclusion. Further, the introduction of these new hosted online solutions will accelerate the IT adoption among the textile manufacturers in Tirupur and give them the advantage of deploying the right solutions to enhance their business productivity at affordable pricing through a ‘pay as you go’ model.”
Recognizing the huge potential of the SMEs and their set of challenges for IT adoption, Microsoft India launched Project Vikas in partnership with the National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC) in the year 2007.
Project Vikas focuses on making the IT adoption flexible by introducing hosted and online solutions that do not require any specific IT infrastructure and give an affordable option to SMEs via the pay-as-you go model.
Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India, said “There is no denying that the Indian SME sector has the potential for immense growth–but the challenges faced by it are equally a fact of life today. We believe that relevant technology, at an affordable price, can go a long way in alleviating the threat these challenges pose. We are glad to partner with the leaders in the IT industry to bring these relevant and cost-effective online solutions which would go a long way in helping the manufacturers of Tirupur implement IT, and compete with the rest of the world.”
In India, there are more than eight million SMEs which contribute nearly 40 percent to the total industrial output of the country and 45 percent to the overall exports from India. In Tirupur alone, there are about 5,000 SMEs involved textile industry. |