The MSME ministry is striving to make the sector the largest employment provider in the country: Secretary, MSME

New Delhi: We are relentlessly working towards ensuring a conducive environment for MSMEs. The ministry of MSME and SIDBI has been working together to launch a formalisation project in January this year to address the challenge of formalisation of the informal micro enterprises. About 13 lack informal micro enterprises have already been brought into the formal ambit through the project. The project also facilitates access to affordable credit and benefits of priority sector lending. The number of registered MSME have now reached 1.64 crore generating 10.73 crore employment in the process, said Shri B. B. Swain, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India. He was speaking at the 9th MSME Excellence Award and Summit organised by ASSOCHAM on Tuesday.

“We are looking beyond formalisation of these micro units to make this sector the highest employment provider in the country. The figure of 10.73 crore employment generated is based on self-declaration by MSMEs and the sector is surely on its way to becoming the largest employment provider in the country,” said Shri Swain, ” We are working closely with ministries, departments, state governments, industry bodies and other stakeholders to provide an enabling environment to the MSMEs such as access to credit, low cost of finance, equity infusion, technology upgradation, access to green technology, enhanced procurement, domestic and international market access among others. The reduction of guarantee fees for MSMEs will be started from 1st April 2023. The reduction will likely be to the tune of 50% below 1 crore. The new PM VIKAS program for artisans and craftsmen will strengthen the MSME sector in the country.”

“We are committed towards working for the welfare of the MSME sector and we shall continue to do so,” he reiterated.

The Secretary has also unveiled a report titled SMALL BUSINESS CONFIDENCE INDEX- ANNUAL COMPENDIUM, jointly compiled by ASSOCHAM and Dun & Bradstreet.

Earlier, welcoming the participants at the summit, Mrs. Sushma Paul Berlia, Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council on Business Facilitation and Global Competitiveness and Chairman, Apeejay Stya Group said, “MSMEs are bringing about significant change in their domains and setting the benchmarks of quality and performance. MSMEs contribute 30% to the country’s GDP, offer livelihood to 11 crore people and account for 40% of the country’s total exports. The entire nation is looking at the MSMEs to play a crucial role in the vision of building an atmanirbhar bharat and establishing India as a USD 5 trillion economy. MSMEs are the nurseries of entrepreneurs, to make them globally competitive and gain a foothold in global value chain the central and state governments have been taking several initiatives, certifications and ECLGS to not only strengthen MSMEs but to also enhance their environmental consciousness. There is a fine balance between looking at sustainability and being sustainable, for MSMEs to be truly sustainable linkages between sustainability and profitability needs to be firmly established.

Shri Ramachandran Venkataraman, Director & Chief Operating Officer, V Guard Industries Ltd said, “The MSME sector is presented with a unique opportunity to envision the future of India. We must work to create an ecosystem that is conducive to the growth and success of MSMEs by focussing on four key areas which will be instrumental to helping us get there. Building and strengthening a culture of entrepreneurship, the nature of entrepreneurship has changed and we must be able to evolve appropriately. Competition has gone global and there are no natural boundaries. Lowering the barriers to entry and encouraging start-ups is critical. The government has been supportive with policies making access to capital and credit a lot easier. Going forward there is a need to improve access to education and training, reduce regulatory barriers and incentivise the entry of young and budding entrepreneurs. The digital revolution is already here and it is transforming the way we do business. MSMEs must quip themselves to adopt technology and expertise for the rapidly emerging marketplace. It is also important to build an efficient framework and infrastructure to empower MSMEs to grow and succeed. With the right support, MSMEs can power the growth of India.

Addressing the summit, Shri Bhadresh Pathak, Business Head, L&T-SuFin said, “Digitalisation is very important for MSMEs to enhance efficiencies. Digitisation or digitalisation in isolation doesn’t serve a purpose unless the entities who are on the digitalisation path interact with each other digitally. It is not enough for the buyer and seller to interact digitally but each entity that is a part of the supply chain has to be on the same page and that requires a platform. Digital platforms remove the need for manual efforts for buyers and sellers on the platform making the entire process more efficient. The same is true also for payment systems. We have a huge population, a demographic dividend which gives us an advantage. Internet penetration is one of the biggest in the world and digital payments are also going up exponentially. We need to capitalize on this because the world is increasingly looking at India to become the manufacturing hub for the world because of the geopolitical situation. The B2B e-Commerce business in China is 4.24 trillion USD, in the US it is 1.53 trillion USD. In India, it is 11 billion USD which clearly indicates the impact of digitization.

The 9th MSME Excellence awards was another highlight of the summit where best performing MSMEs in various categories were honoured.