Make optimum use of MSMEs, minister urges Dalit Chamber

NAGPUR: Union minister of state, who holds independent charge of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) Giriraj Singh, on Saturday wooed the aspiring entrepreneurs from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC&ST) community with the assurance of ‘Ease of doing business’. The minister was in city to inaugurate the National SC-ST Hub Conclave at a hotel in east Nagpur.

“India has moved from the 130th position to 100th in the world in ease of doing business. Previous governments have made some attempts at this but the current administration, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has fast-tracked the process,” said Singh.

The minister said, “This was achieved by abolishing over 1,200 laws governing businesses while repeal of another 1,824 acts is being considered.”

The SC-ST Hub was launched by Modi on October 18, 2016 in Ludhiana. It is an e-platform which serves as a support system exclusively for new age entrepreneurs from SC&ST community. It provides assistance in marketing, vendor development, manufacturing and technology upgrade through various schemes.

The hub works in partnership with Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) and

National Small Industries Corporation

(NSIC). Singh invited DICCI to work with the ministry to promote Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) while NSIC will help MSMEs to procure raw materials.

“Each unit in the

MSME

sector is capable of employing 50-200 people. More enterprises can offer employment under PMEGP. Keeping this in view, the government will allocate Rs1,000 crore for development of MSME sector in the next budget,” said Singh.

Singh emphasized on indigenization in defence sector and stated that 900 vendors are already supplying around 4,700 items to the Indian Air Force (

IAF

). Vice-chief of air staff Shirish Deo and air marshal Hemant Salma informed the attendees about opportunities in supplying important aviation equipment.

“Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the armed forces to procure goods only from MSMEs if the budget is under Rs3 crore. This is an incredible opportunity for new small industries to take advantage,” Singh said.

He didn’t hold back in criticizing the banking sector for not being friendly towards need-based financing. “Why don’t bankers promote need-based financing even though non-performing assets (NPAs) in micro-financing is the lowest? Major banks tend to torment the needy with piles of paperwork,” Singh quipped.

He said, “The micro-financing industry generates business worth Rs70,000 crore annually. MSMEs are the largest consumer of loans under this category. The loans are even recovered with figures suggesting NPAs as low as 1-1.5%.”