Make in India only Possible through Strengthening the Indian SME Sector: Kalraj Mishra

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Global SME Business Summit 2015 organized by CII, in close association with the Ministry of MSME, Government of India, in New Delhi, Shri Kalraj Mishra, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of MSME stressed on the importance of global SME partnerships for the growth of Indian SMEs as well as for the success of the Prime Minister’s visionary Make in India initiative.  He was addressing the CII Global SME Business Summit  in Delhi.

The importance of SMEs has been stressed and reiterated at various fora. The Minister exclaimed that a platform like the summit is important to bring stakeholders forming various parts of the SME ecosystem in India and abroad together. He added that the dynamic global business environment has exposed Indian MSMEs to a plethora of opportunities as well as challenges. He further stated that the Ministry of MSME is committed to bringing in structural reforms to help India SMEs leverage the opportunities and evolve into globally competitive and robust powerhouses of the Indian economy.

Mindful of the expectations from the MSME sector under his able leadership, the Hon’ble Minister shared some of the most recent initiatives by the Ministry to propel the growth potential of these enterprises. Amongst these, he mentioned bill for redefinition of Indian MSMEs by enhancing the investment limits in plant & machinery which is in the parliament, the framework for revival and exit of sick MSME enterprises, the Public Procurement Policy mandating PSEs to source 20% of their procurement requirement from MSMEs which has been made mandatory from 1 April 2015, recommendations made by the KV Kamath Committee to examine the financial architecture of Indian MSMEs, the MUDRA Bank set up with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs. 3000 crore to fund the unfunded enterprises, etc.

One of the most important initiatives, according to him, is the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum for the simplification and universalization of MSMEs through a simple, online, one page form. He added that the Udyog Aadhaar has met with a resounding success with around 75,000 registrations online since its inception in September, 2015. He went on to share that the ministry is attempting to expand its presence on social media by uploading all schemes online and opening interactive sessions on Facebook and Twitter which have attracted over 12,000 followers. Emphasizing on the importance of skill development, he stated that the Ministry has launched a digital employment exchange platform for mapping skills. Under the ASPIRE programme, agro-based industry will be encouraged and also setting up of vocational training incubation centres for students from villages who have passed ITI courses and class 10 has been proposed, he added. He concluded by stating that a collective approach between the centre, state, private sector, industry associations, academia, banking fraternity, and other stakeholders is the most effective way to tackle barriers to the growth of MSME.

The Minister also launched CII’s new SME initiative, The India MSME Alliance (TIMA) which is an apex body of MSME associations in India.

Earlier Speaking at the Session, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII welcomed the Hon’ble Minister at the Summit and applauded the Minister’s continued support for CII in its efforts to support the Indian MSME sector.   CII has launched several initiatives to support SME sector including Finance Facilitation Centre, Cluster Development programme, Training Sessions,  etc. He requested Ministry to make MSME “inspector free” for at least one year.

Mr T T Ashok, Chairman, CII National SME Council, welcomed the dignitaries and participants and shared some important challenges that SMEs face today. These included access to funding, infrastructure, skill development, mentoring support, etc. He pledged CII’s support to the Ministry and other bodies of the Government of India to synergistically create a vibrant and globally competitive SME sector.

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