Delhi: Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma on Monday said that micro, small and medium enterprises are among the most important pillars of India’s economy and the government is working to make the sector stronger and more developed. “We will also work to ensure that the interlinkages between the MSME sector and other important pillars of the Indian economy grow stronger with India’s growth,” the minister said.
Addressing FICCI’s annual MSME summit, Verma urged the industry and other stakeholders to work with the government to make India a $5 trillion economy as well as become self-reliant. He said that there are 6.3 crore Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country which are providing 11 crore jobs.
“MSMEs contribute about 30 per cent to our GDP and account for 50 per cent of the total export earnings,” he added. Further, the minister said that the government is continuously taking steps to strengthen Indian MSMEs and the PMEGP (Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme) launched in the last financial year was a step in this direction. Under this scheme, a total of 1.03 lakh new units have been set up in the manufacturing and service sector in the year 2021-22.
Verma said that the government is also working to ensure that the contribution to the Indian economy is doubled by harnessing the full potential of MSMEs. For this, we will ensure that external barriers are removed and MSMEs will be empowered to make India self-reliant.
“We are also working to inculcate a culture of becoming entrepreneurs among the youth, provide loans to MSMEs, improve their quality and enhance their competitiveness to increase their efficiency,” he added. The Minister also said that the Ministry of MSME is setting up various Technology Centers across the country to support and strengthen the existing and new MSMEs.
Apart from this, the government is also working with other organizations to help MSMEs under ‘Z’ certification scheme (providing technology upgradation and quality certification), Aspire scheme to promote quality and innovation, Design Clinic etc.” Launched Champion Portal which will provide all solutions at one place, and we will further promote the portal to make MSMEs more competitive.
Through these schemes, we hope that MSMEs will become more sustainable,” he said.
BB Swain, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said that in the current scenario, there is a need to increase access to finance and technology for sustainable growth of MSMEs. According to Swain, the government is working with state governments to prepare a coordinated response to the issues faced by MSMEs, under ‘Enhancing and Scaling up MSME Performance’ (RAMP).
The Secretary informed that the Self Reliant India Fund, launched in 2020, has so far provided growth capital of Rs 2,335 crore to 125 micro, small and medium enterprises. Swain also shared that he is looking forward to reforms in the credit guarantee scheme for micro and small enterprises, initiatives such as Udyam, e-Shram and full integration of the National Career Service and ASEEM portals.
During the summit, the secretary said that other eagerly awaited initiatives include setting up of technology centres, management information system, formulation of national MSME policy, addressing quality issues through ZED certification and payment issues of MSMEs.
Enumerating the steps taken by the government to support MSMEs, Swain said that the government has extended non-tax benefits for 3 years in case of upgradation in classification of MSMEs.
“Another scheme which has huge potential is the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Fund’, which encourages the development of the sector and has so far provided Rs 2,335 crore of growth capital to 125 MSMEs,” he added.
FICCI-CMSME President R Narayan said that the potential of the MSME sector is huge and plays a major role in India’s GDP. “We expect MSMEs to contribute 40-45 per cent to the economy,” he said.
Read this also | RBI issues notification to include retail, wholesale business under MSME category