Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today inaugurated Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) at Jammu and Sub-Centre at Srinagar through virtual mode.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor observed that the initiative is a move forward by the Government to promote awareness and adoption of Intellectual Property Rights amongst entrepreneurs and MSMEs in J&K.
He expressed his gratitude to the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises for this initiative of promoting and safeguarding Intellectual Property Rights in this Union Territory.
He underlined the need to safeguard the innovations of entrepreneurs through Trademark and Patent laws and help them sustain in competitive global market. “This facility would also help in promoting our local crafts. Both the Centres will provide help to the entrepreneurs with respect to IPR and GI Tags,” he added.
According to the 2019-20 report by the Ministry of MSME, the UT has more than 7 lakh industries which provide livelihood to around 10.88 lakh people, and 74,785 entrepreneurs of these are women, which is a good indicator on the national scale, he said.
The UT government has recently signed a MoU with Flipkart to help connect our entrepreneurs to the global market. It is our responsibility to provide handholding as well as business related IPR help to ensure their overall growth. It is for the first time that focus was laid on the Intellectual Capital of the Union Territory, the Lt Governor maintained.
Kewal Kumar Sharma, Advisor to the Lt Governor highlighted the importance of Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre and promoting awareness among the entrepreneurs and MSMEs regarding Intellectual Property Rights.
Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department also threw light on the significance of Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre and its impact on Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. Sanjay Aggarwal, President, PHDCCI delivered the welcome address.
Dr Ranjeet Mehta, Principal Director, PHDCCI; Baldev Singh Raina, Chairman PHDCCI Kashmir; Rahul Sahai, Chairman, PHDCCI Jammu; Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHDCCI; Mushtaq Ahmad Chaya (Mentor-Kashmir) and Rakesh Wazir (Mentor-Jammu) were also present on the occasion, in person and through virtual mode.