State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Monday launched a new project on clusters survey of 10 important Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Clusters in the country. The objective of this project survey is to provide credible information base on key SME clusters/sub-sectors of economic importance, said a central bank’s statement. Funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK, the project will develop key drivers of business of important SME sub-sectors located in various cities across the country. The clusters selected for the survey include: Cotton Ginning, Marble and Marble Products, Plastic Products, Hand-made Carpet Manufacturing, Leather Products, Dry-cleaning and Laundry services, Beauty parlors and Spa, Super markets and Retail shops, Printing Press and Gem & Jewelry.
M/s Corporate Development Partners (Pvt) Limited will conduct the survey which is to be completed in four months. This is an important project as availability of reliable and comprehensive data on SMEs play a critical role in the development of the sector, helping the relevant stakeholders in devising sector-specific effective business strategies. This Project would specially help banks in targeting the selected SME clusters through appropriate banking products and marketing/distribution strategies, thereby increasing their penetration in SME sector. It may be pointed out that SBP, in collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Lahore University of Management Sciences, has recently completed similar projects on 11 other important SME clusters.
