core sector communique

Shri Virbhadra Singh Addresses 7th North East Business Summit
Ministry Actively Promoting the Development of MSMEs in the NER through Programmes and Schemes
100 Tool Rooms to be Opened

The 7th North East Business Summit was held here today. Congratulating the Ministry of DoNER and Indian Chamber of Commerce for organizing the Business Summit the Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Virbhadra Singh said, “The North Eastern Region of the country is bestowed with tremendous opportunities and challenges. The North Eastern Region is endorsed with rich natural and human resources, &minerals. There is a need to channelize these vast resources for the overall growth & development of the area. The major development objective for the North East Region should be strengthening of this human resources, particularly the youth, so as to make them skilled and employable. The Ministry of MSME is also actively promoting the development of MSMEs in the NER through the programmes and schemes.

Worldwide, the MSMEs have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and for promoting equitable development. The Minister said, “In India too, the MSMEs play a pivotal role in the overall industrial economy of the country. It is estimated that in terms of value, the sector accounts for about 45 per cent of the manufacturing output and over 40 per cent of the total exports of the country. Further, the MSE sector has consistently registered higher growth rate compared to the overall industrial sector. The major advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital costs”.

He further said, “The Ministry has initiated ten innovative schemes under the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme to assist MSMEs in improving their processes, design, technology and market access. The ten components of this programme includes schemes like “Lean Manufacturing”, “Design Clinics”, “Quality Control”, “ICT Application”, “Energy Efficiency” and “Building Awareness on Intellectual Property Rights”. The Ministry is also implementing the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for assisting MSEs in upgrading their technology. The scheme provides for 15% capital subsidy on institutional loans up to Rs.1 crore availed by the MSEs. While the Ministry of MSME is making efforts to generate widespread awareness about these schemes among all the stakeholders, I urge upon the MSME Associations of North East Regions to come forward and collaborate with the Ministry in implementing these schemes successfully”.

Shri Virbhadra Singh said, “availability of adequate credit is paramount to the success of the micro and small enterprises. The micro and small enterprises have traditionally relied on debt financing from banks and non-bank financial institutions. MSEs primarily rely on bank finance for a variety of purposes including purchase of land, building, plant and machinery as also for working capital. However, even for bank financing, they have to provide collateral security. To ensure better flow of credit to MSEs by minimizing the risk perception of banks/financial institutions in lending without collateral security, the Government is implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme. The scheme provides guarantee cover of up to 85% on collateral-free credit facility extended by lending institutions to new and existing MSEs for loans up to Rs.100 lakh. More than 6.47 lakhs proposals have been approved under the Scheme so far. The Government is also implementing another credit linked scheme, namely, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) for assisting the young entrepreneurs to set up new micro enterprises in the manufacturing as well as the services sector. The Scheme provides for attractive subsidy for promoting self-employment and has the potential of providing employment to a very large number of people, especially in the rural areas. This is a very important scheme and needs to be pursued vigorously by the State Governments to support setting up of as many micro enterprises as possible”.

“India’s young demographic profile has the country favourably placed in terms of manpower availability. There is a need to equip the youth with skills and knowledge for giving them access to productive employment. The Ministry of MSME is recognized as a Nodal Ministry on Entrepreneurship Development by Government of India. At the uppermost echelon is the training provided by our state-of-the-art Tool Rooms and Technology Development Centres. By the next Plan the Ministry intends to open 100 tool rooms so that it can become the basis of training for all”.

The Minister also added that funds are no constraint for development of North East and all activities taken up by the Ministry will be actively pursued. He assured that problems, particularly in setting up of MSEs will be removed and solved.

Present on the occasion were Tapang Taloh Minister of Industry, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, O.Nabakishore Singh, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Government of Manipur, R. L. Rinawma, Principal Secretary, Industries, Government of Mizoram.