Uttar Pradesh MSME Minister Rakesh Sachan Urged MSMEs to Invest in the State at SMEStreet GameChangers Forum 2022 Webinar

New Delhi India, 21st July 2022: Shri Rakesh Sachan, Cabinet Minister for Ministry of MSME and Khadi, Government of Uttar Pradesh, attended the SMEStreet GameChangers Forum 2022 Webinar as the Chief Guest and emphasised Uttar Pradesh’s MSME Policies and Shri Yogi Adityanath’s government’s commitment to MSMEs’ development in the state. Smt Mercy Epao, Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Govt of India, attended the event as the Guest of Honour and delivered her keynote address, highlighting flagship MSME policies and schemes that are designed to give a boost to MSMEs in order to bounce back on a growth path after the pandemic.

Shri Rakesh Sachan, Minister of MSME and Khadi in the UP Government, emphasised the UP Government’s commitment to creating a positive and safe environment for business.”We are working towards ensuring an all-around positive ecosystem for economic upliftment in the state. The last few years have shown a great level of enthusiasm from both MSMEs and the investor community from across the world in coming to our UP state.

Highlighting the first 100 days of the second term of the Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh, the MSME Minister of UP mentioned the success of the Mega Loan Mela that Chief Minister Shri Yogi Adityanath launched. Through this initiative, a loan of 16 thousand crores has been distributed to one lakh nine hundred thousand beneficiaries of the state.

The Minister also highlighted initiatives like the sanctioning of common facility centres in various districts under the One District, One Product common facility centre (CFC) saying, “Such schemes are helping MSMEs from smaller towns like Azamgarh, Siddharthnagar, Sitapur, and Ambedkar Nagar. Similarly, the proposal for the upgradation of infrastructure facilities under the central government’s Cluster Development Program shows that major development work is happening in Jalaun’s Industrial Asthan Coach, Salarpur Industrial Area of Badaun in only the first 100 days of our government. The work of setting up the Woolen Thread Cosmetic Center in Prayagraj is going on. About 35% of the building work has been completed.

While giving the keynote address to the SMEStreet GameChangers forum, Smt Mercy Epao, Jt Secretary of MSME Ministry emphasized on Central Government’s focused approach towards creating a conducive ecosystem for the growth of MSMEs in the country. She said that the government has initiated many programs and schemes in credit facilitation, cluster development, technology centres, market linkages, skilling and capacity building, encouraging innovation and sustainability, and creating better coordination between the Central Government and State Governments. The Ministry of MSME is not only working on policies but also addressing the grievances of MSMEs through online Champions and Samadhan portals. The MSME Ministry has recently launched the CBFTE Scheme to support first-time exporters by assisting them financially with registration with EPCs, insurance premium testing, and certification of their products and services.  Innovation, ZED and Lean schemes will help the MSMEs to become competitive in the global value chain. The Ministry has launched the Udyam Registration portal to encourage MSMEs to access various benefits offered by the government. It is also a step toward bringing the MSMEs into the formal sector. “Towards inclusive growth, the Ministry has been implementing NSSH Scheme to support SC/ST entrepreneurs mainstream their economic activities. It has been working with a focused aim of reaching 4% procurement by the CPSEs/Government from the SC/STs. To encourage women entrepreneurship, SAMARTH has bn announced on 8th March 2022 to reserve 20% seats for all skill programs n exhibition/fairs (both domestic & international),” said Smt Mercy Epao, “Skilling is one of the major programs taken up to encourage youth to take up entrepreneurship or find placement for livelihood.”

“We are also working on the final stage of development of the updated National MSME Policy.” We have invited suggestions and recommendations from industry associations for ensuring a comprehensive National MSME Policy. “We are thankful to all industry associations, including SMEStreet Foundation, for submitting their recommendations for the updated MSME Policy,” says Smt. Mercy Epao.

The webinar was held on July 19th and was attended by over 4,000 MSME audience members via SMEStreet.in and various social media platforms. Shri P Udayakumar, CMD of NSIC, also participated in the forum and emphasised NSIC’s commitment to building a new India which will have successful MSMEs and a sustainable growth ecosystem for the sector.

Shri P Udayakumar, CMD, NSIC, Ministry of MSME, presented a special address in which he highlighted MSME schemes that are executed by NSIC.

Shri Uadayakumar said, “While NSIC schemes are getting very positive feedback from MSMEs, I certainly see a very positive growth curve for Indian MSMEs in the next few years.” The next few years will witness the great results of MSME success stories. I am extremely pleased to note that SMEStreet is organising a webinar on ” Role of MSMEs in the chase of 5 Trillion economies.”

NSIC plays a major role in recharging the MSME units after the pandemic hit to get the business opportunities growing in an exponential way from the domestic and export markets.

Earlier, Shri Faiz Askari, Founder Editor of SMEStreet and Secretary General of SMEStreet Foundation, welcomed the distinguished speakers into the second webinar of SMEStreet GameChangers Forum 2022 and said, “The MSME sector, in today’s time, is at the crux of a global economic evolution. Scenarios are fast changing and Indian MSMEs are completely qualified to capitalise on the new regime of opportunities. We are SMEStreet. We are extremely excited to bring you this forum, which is aimed at highlighting contemporary opportunities for MSMEs. Through various webinars, podcasts, articles, and reports, SMEStreet will continue to explain and explore every single opportunity for MSMEs’ growth. Today’s webinar was phenomenally successful with respect to showcasing such opportunities, and I am thankful to our leaders and policymakers who are committed to creating an MSME-oriented ecosystem.

 In a special session delivered by Shri Samir Sathe, Executive Vice President, Wadhwani Advantage, Wadhwani Foundation MSME Development Services and the roadmap by Wadhawani Foundation were explained and highlighted.

 A panel discussion on the Roadmap for MSMEs with MSME Perspective in the Pursuit of India Becoming a 5 Trillion Dollar Economy was also organized, with distinguished panellists such as Shri P Uadayakumar, CMD of NSIC, Ministry of MSME, Shri Naresh Verma, Past President, Manufacturers Association Faridabad, and Shri Abhinav Jain, Founder, Almond Virtex participating.

For the panel discussion, Shri Udayakumar mentioned, “NSIC offers fully integrated solutions to MSMEs, from incubation to last mile exports through various interventions. The latest game-changing interventions are Self Reliant India( SRI) Fund for equity infusion with a corpus of Rs 50000 Crs, A scheme for the first-time exporters supported by the Ministry, and Subsidy support for Micro enterprises for MSMEmart membership among another commercial scheme. We assure the MSMEs that we will provide all required commercial support and hand holding so that MSME units play a major role in making the 5 Trillion economies.”

Shri Naresh Verma spoke on the competitiveness and potential of Faridabad, Haryana-based manufacturers and also hinted at the government’s proactive efforts to improve the level of ease of doing business. also pointed out some challenges like power and fuel supply for the smooth functioning of the business. Shri Abhinav Jain highlighted the role of new-age collaborative technologies that are enabling MSMEs to do business in the new era.

Mr. Abdulhasan Al-Dairi, Chairman of Bahrain SMEs Society and Deputy Chairman of the United SMEs Organization (UNISMO), participated in the panel discussion and gave a global perspective on business and also touched upon opportunities for Indian and Bahraini MSMEs.

A detailed report on the panel discussion will be published separately on SMEStreet.in.

The forum also highlighted SealTech International as an MSME from Faridabad which is doing exponential work in the area of the oil and gas sector not only in India but across the globe and the USA in particular. Shri Raju Mishra, CEO & Director of SealTech International, presented details of his organisation’s milestones. This section was part of the SMEStreet Foundation’s Star MSME Showcase in which SealTech International was featured as a success story.

SMEStreet GameChangers Forum 2022 is supported by the Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad, National Small Industries Corporation, LexComply, and Almond-Vertix. SMEStreet Foundation is the executing agency for this activity, and global partners include Bahrain-based UNISMO, AASGON, and United Nations Global Compact, UK.