Dhaka: Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu on Sunday said the country’s small and cottage industries registered 10.7 percent growth year-on-year in the 2014-15 fiscal.

“Bangladesh is marching fast towards a middle-income country. The contribution of manufacturing industry to the GDP is 20.17 percent.  The growth rate is 10.32 percent in the sector. And the growth rate is 10.7 percent in the small and cottage industry sector,” he said.

The minister was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day annual conference of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) at the auditorium of the Small and Cottage Industries Training Institute in the city.

Industries Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan also spoke at the function, presided over by chairman of BSCIC Ahmed Hossain Khan.

A total of 170 officials from the BSCIC head office and field-level offices attended the conference, said a BSCIC release.

Amu said the high growth rates in the manufacturing industry, and small and cottage industry proves that Bangladesh rapidly is moving forward the industrialization. “If the trend of development continues, we’ll reach the position of middle-income countries,” he added.

He said a total of 4,259 industrial units and factories, including 950 export-oriented ones are now involved in production in the 74 BSCIC estates across the country. The size of cumulative investment of the industrial units is Tk 19,380 crore, while 5.50 lakh people are employed in the BSCIC estates.

Speaking at the opening session, the BSCIC chairman said the corporation arranged training for 6,624 people in management development, and 3,164 people in skills enhancement in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

Noting that the total allocation against 18 projects under the BSCIC was some Tk 36.46 crore in the 2014-15 revised annual development programmes (ADP), he said the implementation progress rate of the projects was 89 percent.