Govt identifying schemes to benefit the MSMEs in service sector: Ministry of MSME

NEW DELHI, 29 June 2021: Devendra Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Govt of India yesterday said that more and more MSMEs are benefiting by registering to the new registration portal developed for the upliftment of the MSMEs. More than 36 lakh MSMEs have registered on the ‘Udyam’ portal, he added.

Addressing the virtual ‘Round Table on Inclusive and Sustainable Recovery of Indian MSMEs’ on the occasion of International MSME Day 2021, organized by FICCI-CMSME & UNIDO, Singh said that about 57 percent of the value of total orders coming through the GeM platform, was going to the MSMEs. “We should develop a strategy for manufacturing process of capital goods manufacturing machines with the support of imported technologies,” he emphasized.

Singh further stated that the government is also working on identifying schemes out of the already available schemes under the Ministry of MSME to benefit the MSMEs in service sector.

Dr René Van Berkel, UNIDO Representative in India shared his views and ideas on the sustainable development of MSMEs in India. “While Indian manufacturing sector needs MSMEs to grow, MSMEs also need to improve and innovate to become a part of India’s growth story,” he added.

R Narayan, President, FICCI-CMSME and Founder & CEO, Power2SME Private Limited said that the roundtable discussion was a great initiative at an appropriate time when MSMEs were surrounded by COVID-19 challenges. While lauding the recent government announcements of an additional package of Rs 1.50 lakh crore under ECLGS, he said that the scheme would now serve more MSMEs. “It is my hope and aspiration that our learnings from the pandemic encourages us to setup self-sufficient system in terms of ‘Glocal’ supply chains- for more sustainable operations that boost ‘Make in India’ so that we can truly transform Indian MSMEs into the factory of the world,” added Narayan.

Girish Luthra, Senior Vice President, FICCI-CMSME and Chairman, Luthra Group of Companies, said, “Most of the PLI schemes have been designed for supporting the medium and large sector to make India manufacturing hub of the world. However, micro & small units should also be considered to rope in under these schemes,” he added.

Sanjay Bhatia, Immediate Past President, FICCI-CMSME and Managing Director, Hindustan Tin Works Limited raised concerns over the rising input costs for MSMEs and coverage of the ECLGS scheme. “Cut-off date of ECLGS scheme should be revised from Feb 29, 2020 to Mar 31, 2021 as it would help many units which started operation later,” he urged.

Harjinder Kaur Talwar, Vice President, FICCI-CMSME and Managing Director & CEO, COMVISION India Private Limited highlighted the issues of services sector. She also suggested that MSMEs dealing in System Integration projects, should be offered a viable solution in terms of their status while registering on GeM portal or any other similar portal. Such MSMEs deals in both Manufacturing and Services and find it hard to register on GeM portal due to the nature of business they deal into.