'Make In India' and Procurement policy shines in Year End Review of MSME Ministry

The most innovative change that have been visible in the new Indian government is the culture of follow up. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a innovative way to sustain the activity push by motivating report cards. This time, Ministry of MSME under the leadership of mr Kalraj Mishra have shared a detailed report card of his ministry's report based on the kind of activities in last six months.

India is one amongst very few countries which has a legal framework for the MSME Sector in the form of MSMED Act 2006 which has established provisions under which issues like public procurement and delayed payments are addressed.

'Make in India' campaign to get Indian companies as well as global firms to invest and partner in the manufacturing sector is a well drawn out concept and is the most relevant for India’s MSMEs. ‘Make in India’ campaign can attract the foreign MNCs to bring in their investment, set up venture/angel funds to take advantage of the inherent depth of the MSME Sector in terms of range of products and services, marketing networks and the ability to grow fast. Another advantage in Indian MSME Sector the foreign partners would experience is that production process in this sector is already underway. The various networks required for undertaking the production process are already established.  The foreign MNC is just required to bring in investment and technical know-how to achieve excellence in these areas.

In order to enhance the capabilities of MSMEs, Ministry of MSME has been implementing a number of programs and schemes in the areas of finance, infrastructure, technology, marketing and skill development to address the problems confronting the sector.

Some of the flagship activities of the Ministry of MSME in last six months are:

• MSE- Cluster Development
• Make In India
• Procurement Policy
• National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

The above are among some of the major action oriented activities of the ministries.

The MSME sector in India is diverse in terms of its size, levels of technology employed and range of products and services produced. Starting from grass root village Industries, the products from the sector spans to auto components, micro-processors, electronic components and electro-medical devices. MSMEs have shown constant growth rate of over 10% in recent years much ahead of the large-scale corporate sector. This sector contributes 8 per cent of the country’s GDP, 45 per cent of the manufactured output and 40 per cent of its exports. The MSMEs provide employment to over 80 million persons through over 36 million enterprises producing over six thousand products.