Govt Taking Steps to Make MSMEs Stronger and Globally Competitive: Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma

Mr Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Minister of State for MSME, Govt of India said that MSMEs are among the most important pillars of the Indian economy and the government is working to make MSME sector stronger and more developed, going forward. “We will also work to ensure that interrelationship between the MSME sector and other important pillars of the Indian economy are further strengthened as India grows,” he added. 

Addressing the ‘Annual MSME Summit 2022 and MSME Ecosystem Awards’, organized by FICCI-CMSME, Mr Verma urged the industry and other stakeholders to work with the government to make India a $5 trillion economy along with becoming self-reliant. He said that there are 6.3 crore MSMEs in the country which are providing 11 crore jobs. “MSMEs contribute around 30 per cent to our GDP and have a share of 50 per cent of the income generated from total exports,” he said.

The Minister added that the government is taking continuous steps to strengthen Indian MSMEs and the PMEGP (Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program), launched last financial year, was a step in this direction. Under this scheme in the year 2021-22, a total of 1.03 new units have been set up in the manufacturing and services sector. “In the last 14 years, this is first time that new unit’s number has crossed 1 lakh mark and since inception in 2008, the program has generated around 8.25 new jobs,” he added. 

The government, Mr Verma said is also working to ensure that by taking advantage of the full potential of the MSMEs, there contribution to the Indian economy should double. “For this, we will ensure to remove the external barriers and provide strength to MSMEs in order to make India self-reliant. “We are also working to develop the culture of becoming entrepreneurs in the youth, provide loans to MSMEs, improve their quality and increasing their competitiveness to increase their efficiency,” he added.

The Minister further stated that MSME ministry 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 the MSMEs under the ‘ZED’ certification scheme (providing technology upgradation and quality certification), ASPIRE scheme to promote quality and innovation, Design Clinic, etc. “The government has also 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 MSMEs will become more sustainable,” he added.

Mr BB Swain, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Govt of India said that sustainable development of MSMEs in the current scenario needs to entail enhanced access to finance and technology. He added that under the ‘Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance’ (RAMP), the government is working with the state governments to formulate a coordinated response to the issues faced by the MSMEs.

While enumerating the steps taken by the government to support the MSMEs, Mr Swain stated that the government has extended non-tax benefits for 3 years in case of an upgradation in the classification of MSME. “Another scheme which has a lot of potential is the ‘Self Reliant India Fund’ which encourages the growth of the sector which was announced in 2020 and has provided growth capital of Rs 2,335 crores to 125 MSMEs till date,” he added.

Mr R Narayan, President, FICCI-CMSME said that the potential of the MSME sector is huge and play a big role in India’s GDP. “Today, the MSMEs contribute to around 30 per cent to the GDP and when we reach the $5 trillion mark, we hope to see the MSMEs contributing to 40-45 per cent of the economy,” he added. 

Dr AK Gosain, Emeritus Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT-Delhi highlighted the need for enhancing the climate resilience for sustainability of MSME sector in India.

Ms Harjinder Kaur Talwar, Vice President, FICCI-CMSME delivered the vote of thanks.