New Delhi: Emphasizing on empowering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India will become self-reliant only with the expansion of MSMEs.
The PM said that in the last eight years, the government has increased the budget by more than 650 percent to strengthen the MSME sector.
Modi was addressing the concluding program of Entrepreneur India of the Ministry of MSME on Thursday. He had earlier launched two MSME related schemes “Rising and Accelerating MSME Performance” (Ramp) and “Capacity Building of First Time MSME Exporters” (CBFTE) scheme. The Prime Minister also launched new facilities related to the Employment Generation Program (PMEGP).
The Prime Minister exhorted the entrepreneurs associated with the MSME sector to register on the GeM portal for the supply of goods in the government sector. In his address, the Prime Minister said that it is very important for the country’s MSME sector to be strengthened, for India’s exports to increase continuously, for India’s products to reach new markets.
He said that his government is taking decisions and formulating new policies keeping in mind the immense potential of this sector. Describing MSME as a major pillar of India’s growth journey, he said that the sector accounts for about one third of India’s economy.
If India earns Rs 100 today, then Rs 30 comes from the MSME sector, he added.
The Prime Minister said that today the whole world is impressed by the pace of India’s economy and the MSME sector plays a big role in this pace. Therefore, MSME is also necessary for the strength of the micro economy today. MSMEs account for a large part of what India is exporting today.
Referring to the global pandemic, the Prime Minister said that when the biggest crisis of 100 years came, the government decided to save small enterprises as well as give them new strength. He said that under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, the Central Government has ensured Rs.3.5 lakh crore for MSMEs.
He said that if any industry wants to grow, expand, then the government is not only supporting it, but is also making necessary changes in the policies. They said that
Now for the first time the turnover of Khadi and Village Industries has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. This has been possible because the small entrepreneurs in the villages have worked very hard. The sale of Khadi has increased 4 times in the last 8 years.
Mudra Yojana has a huge role to play in making entrepreneurship easy for every Indian. This scheme of bank loan without guarantee has created a large section of women entrepreneurs, dalit, backward, tribal entrepreneurs in the country.
Targeting the previous government, the Prime Minister said that the Prime Minister’s employment generation program is also an example of how we have brought change. He said that the scheme was implemented in 2008 when the country and the whole world was in the grip of economic slowdown and claimed that lakhs of jobs would be created during the next four years.
On this occasion, union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Narayan Rane in his welcome address stressed the need to reduce dependence on imports and promote exports. He underlined the role of MSMEs in making India self-reliant. Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh and others were also present in the program.
