Citing ship repairs to be a significant area of opportunity for local MSMEs, Hindustan Shipyard Limited’s Chairman and Managing Director, Cmde Hemant Khatri, IN (Retd). urged the local industry to keenly look at the opportunities present in ship repairs at HSL.

‘Ship building and ship repairs are two different verticals demanding two very different sets of requirements.

I believe the opportunities in Ship repairs is an area wherein the local MSMEs from Autonagar can truly participate and benefit from’ said the CMD HSL.

Addressing the gathering as chief guest at the valedictory function of the MSME DI-VASSIWA vendor development meet wherein he noted that HSL regularly interacts with the local MSMEs in the region.

‘Whenever we have had a requirement in repairs we have always relied on our Autonagar MSMEs and they have not let us down’ said the CMD HSL.

He similarly called upon MSMEs to become more competitive in their quality and pricing and to work on creating a home-grown and identifiable brand.

‘Why can’t we work towards something like ‘Made in VASSIWA’, a brand that resonates with quality,commitment and value for money’ said Cmde Khatri.

Talking on the public procurement policy he said that the shipyard has been aggressively sourcing from MSMEs and has grown their vendor base from 395 to 700.

‘As far as HSL is concerned we are not just stopping at 25% but have gone ahead and are procuring close to 35% from MSMEs’ said Cmde Hemant Khtari, IN(Retd.)

HSL he said has a centralized single window for vendor registrations and that the process is very simple and no registration fee is asked from any MSME vendor. Further there is no EMD, tender fee payment for MSME vendors.