The government has removed 85 articles from the list of items reserved for the small-scale sector, while hiking the investment limit to Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) for seven SSI items pertaining to sports goods, such as hockey sticks, cricket and hockey balls and footballs.
The department of industrial policy and promotion, under the commerce and industry ministry, recently notified the dereservation of 85 items from the SSI list. With the removal of these items, there remain 570 articles in the reserved list in 22 categories.
The move to remove items from the SSI list follows the announcement made by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Budget to dereserve 85 items.
The items removed from the SSI list include several consumer goods, such as razors, copper and silver utensils, shoe polish, natural essential oils like sandalwood oil, pine oil, lemon grass oil, sanitary towels and eatables like sweetened cashewnut products, tapioca sago and tapioca flour. Items like tent poles, wooden plugs, wooden and bamboo handles have also been removed.
Several paper products, including waxed paper, paper cones, paper tubes, drinking straws and tele tape rolls have also been struck off the reserved list. Also removed were three items pertaining to fast colour bases, four items pertaining to roofing tiles, and one item pertaining to flooring tiles.
Under the category of auto part components, ancillaries and garage equipment, four items have been dereserved. These include luggage carrier, brake and pedal pads (auto), wiring harness (except integrated wiring harness) and auto leaf springs (excluding tapered leaf spring).
The government has also changed the nomenclature for 10 items along with new product codes. The investment limit has been hiked for seven items, including sports nets, shuttle cocks, protective instruments for sports (like pads and gloves), dumb bells and chest expanders.
