LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCC) on Tuesday urged government to give special incentives to Cottage Industry in the federal budget 2016-17 and announce setting up of cottage city as the cottage industry is backbone of manufacturing sector.
Talking to the head of 100-member delegation of Cottage industry, Ghulam Sarwar Malik, the LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad said that cottage industry was not only a building block of economy but also of utmost importance for alleviation of poverty and unemployment.
He said that government should divert resources towards cottage industry for fast economic revival of the country.
He said that early establishment of a well equipped cottage city on the pattern of industrial zones in the country should be made part of the economic agenda.
The LCCI President cited that Bangladesh, China, Korea and United States where an equal importance was being given to the small business and these countries were treated at par with Large Scale Manufacturing sector.
Lahore Chamber would also meet top officials of the government departments so that exporters of cottage industry products could get maximum facilitation, he assured the delegtaion.
He called for a two-pronged strategy to cope with economic meltdown.
The LCCI President said the cottage and small-scale industries were labor intensive and provide employment to more than 80 per cent of the industrial labour force.
"This reduces the unemployment and offers opportunities for self-employment, and cottage industry also meet the local demands for industrial goods, and save foreign exchange," he observed.
Ghulam Sarwar Malik sought the help of Lahore Chamber for revival of cottage industry. He said that some well-equipped space must be allocated by the government for the cottage industry so that the people attached with cottage industry could be able to do their businesses with peace of mind.
He said Lahore Chamber should play its role to curb the menace of smuggling that was hitting the cottage industry hard, adding that banks should also give interest free loans to this industry.
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