Although Indian fashion industry is growing to prominence, the small and mid-sized segment of this industry needs to put more efforts to overcome infrastructure bottlenecks and develop exclusive design expertise to tap potential markets, said Suresh Yadavendra, Director, MSME Development Institute on Thursday in New Delhi.

"In the fashion industry, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are facing problem with the designing. They are facing problem with the infrastructure as well. I think they are technologically fine and are able to pick up," Yadavendra told SME Times in the sidelines of a PHD Chamber event on "Unlocking the potential of SMEs in the Fashion Industry" in New Delhi on Thursday.

SMEs are being aware about the development taking place in the government with new policies and regulations. They need the support and the government is focusing on those issues, he added.

"Actually, SMEs are slowly opening up. We are saying them that you (SMEs) have to contribute 20 percent of the costs and the rest 80 per cent the government will be contributing," he said.

He added, "SMEs want that their infrastructure should be upgraded but they are not willing to spend money. This is all the bottlenecks that we are facing. I am not saying they are not opening; they are opening."

Yadavendra further added, "The government is running a scheme under the 11th five year plan that is the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP). Under NMCP, we have ten components. Among which one component is design."

"We will be giving the subsidy and support to the Public Private Partnership. In fact, under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) a group of industries will come up," he also said.

"Around 75 percent of the total costs, the government will be reimbursing. We have the concept of tool room as the small industries need tools indeed. The problem is, the small companies have to go to Taiwan or have to depend on big players for tools. So, we want to help them." Yadavendra said.

He mentioned that in the Public Private Partnership around Rs. 9 crore will be given from the government's side. "A percentage of 80 to 90 percent of the costs, depending upon the situation, will be given by the government and the rest 10 percent has to be given by the industry which SMEs can utilize in the capacity building," he pointed out.

Besides this, the government also has the international property rights (IPR) regime, which can help them to protect their innovation and designs as well, Yadavendra said.

"We are inviting innovations from the student and we are also requesting the industry to bring together their innovation and ideas, develop it, we will provide the infrastructure and other facilities free of costs," he added.

MSME Development Institute, at present, have around seven incubators situated in Delhi. There are incubators set up in Ghaziabad and has plan to establish new incubators in Faridabad. These incubators have trained 6000 new entreprenuers till last year.

Dwelling views during the event, the industry stalwarts also added that the fashion industry is facing potential challenges due to the strict government policies, constraints with the bank finance, surge in the raw material costs, restricting potential foreign investment in retail, and major trouble with the high transaction costs.

They said there is a need to open more fashion institutes and design facility for skill development among young aspiring designers which can make the industry globally competitive.

Also, the industry and the government must ensure that e-commerce activities are made popular as it is expected to grow exponentially in future and can give better exposure to the fashion industry.

Among the panel speakers in the conference were Badal Chaudhary, CEO, Numero Uno International; noted fashion designer Varija Bajaj; Fashion Consultant, Studio Janak, Ajjay Mehra; Vinod Kaul, Joint Managing Director, International College of Financial Planning and Jay Vani Bajaj, Director International College of Finanacial Planning.