Rajasthan Government to join hands with SIDBI for Development of a Supportive MSME Ecosystem

10th August 2020, Jaipur: In a bid to provide meaningful assistance and encouragement to upcoming and existing MSME units in the state, Rajasthan Government is planning to join hands with the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI). For facilitating the MSMEs, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being discussed between Government of Rajasthan and SIDBI.

Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Ashok Gehlot, several measures like MSME Act, 2019 and Mukhyamantri Laghu Udyog Protsahan Yojana have already been initiated to provide effective support to the MSMEs and this MoU with SIDBI would increase awareness of growth and business opportunities amongst the MSME units in Rajasthan. In the meeting held at Udyog Bhawan in the city on Monday, the representatives of SIDBI highlighted the various clusters where they would like to work and how they would reach out to small entrepreneurs, using their expertise for providing consultation, appropriate solutions and guidance for availing benefits under current schemes.

The meeting was chaired by Ms. Archana Singh, Commissioner Industries, Government of Rajasthan. Ms. Singh said, “We have launched several initiatives for the MSMEs and a lot many are benefitting from them. However, there are still some gaps in awareness of various schemes and the benefits available thereunder. With the active participation of the consultants provided by SIDBI, the cluster level challenges of MSMEs would be easier to address and MSMEs will also be able to avail benefits under relevant schemes”.

For this purpose, Project Management Unit (PMU) will be set up by SIDBI to provide assistance to certain sectors which are cluster based such as textiles in Bhilwara and handicrafts in Jodhpur. This endeavour would focus on delivering assistance and capacity building to the Industrial Associations and other Line Departments of the area. Synergizing roles of various public and private service providers would be the aim and they intend to establish Resource/Knowledge Centre for dissemination of information to enterprises at State, cluster and district levels.

The team would also reach out to people at ground level and provide assistance on one to one basis which would augment the efforts of people looking to set up units in every corner of the state.

The objective of developmental initiatives of SIDBI is to achieve a vibrant and synergized MSME Ecosystem in the State level. Under this initiative, partnering agency of SIDBI, Grant Thornton will be identifying the Institutional Constraints, Factor Constraints, and Demand Constraints for MSMEs in the State by identifying the major clusters and their Industries Associations with the support of Rajasthan Government. In a set timeline, the team deputed by SIDBI will be creating a strategy of Cluster-based Value Chain for resource optimization, setting up of Resource Centre for cluster-level consultation and a help desk as well as empowerment of the concerned Industry Associations.

Mainly this initiative will be working as an effective bridge between MSMEs and Central/State Government for understanding ground-level challenges that MSMEs are facing and creating an ideal ecosystem for ease of doing business.