Confederation of Affirmative Industries ( CAI ) is a trade body started in 2016 to bring all possible industries, manufacturing and service sectors, trade and professionals and their bodies under one umbrella to establish a credible, vibrant and dynamic platform for the development of Trade and Industry and co-ordinate the activities and problems of the different industries and trade associations and societies for solving the problems of industries owned by schedule caste , schedule tribe executives and entrepreneurs. CAI also works with Government on policy issues, to enhance efficiency, competitiveness, improve business opportunities for scheduled castes and scheduled tribe entrepreneurs and population using state of the art specialized services and strategic global alliances.

CAI has 450 members in Tamilnadu chapter comprising of seven regions in the state. Vendor Development programs with PSU’s like BHEL, SAIL, Indian Air force Station, Ordinance factory , HAL , Southern Railway, ICF, Chennai Port Trust, HAPP – Trichy, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation , Heavy Vehicle Factory, Avadi were organized jointly with Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India.

Several members of CAI were made as vendors under this initiative thereby bringing them in the procurement process.

CAI also works with other industry associations like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), SADISTTIA, Bharat Niti and many other organizations like TANSTIA, etc. Under affirmative action of the CII our members had business meetings with TATA groups and they had become part of the supply chain of the Corporate companies like TATA. CAI also works with CII in the Capacity Building , Training & Mentoring for its members.

In India, there are approximately 46 million Micro, Small and Medium sector Enterprises across various industries, employing 106 million people . Overall, the MSME sector accounts for 45 percent of Indian industrial output and 40 percent of exports.

Tamilnadu has over 14.89 lakh registered Micro, Small & Medium enterprises ( MSME Units ) , the highest in the country , providing employment to 94.83 lakh persons. The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises segment is expected to play a significant role in the emergence of the Indian Economy.

The development of this segment is extremely critical to meet the national imperatives of financial inclusion and generation of significant levels of employment across urban, and rural areas across the country