Govt committed to helping MSME sector flourish: Minister of State Pratap Chandra Sarangi

Addressing the session on “Organising the unorganised essential for enhanced competitiveness” at ASSOCHAM’s virtual conference, the Hon'ble Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said, “The MSMEs sector plays a pivotal role in the growth of the nation. Corona because of which lockdown had to be enforced gave a massive blow to the industry including MSMEs and to deal with this PM Modi Ji announced a package a 20 lakh crore package."

"The Indian Government revised the definition of MSMEs, bringing it in line with global standards, a move that will help MSMEs to scale up and generate more employment. With the Government increasing opportunities for local MSMEs and reducing dependence on imports, Indian MSMEs will be able to scale up operations and gain higher market share across the various sector," Sarangi said.

The government is committed to doing as much more as needed for the sector. Now the time has come to be a self-reliant country and for this MSME can play a very important role in this mission of nation-building, he said.

"We earlier used to import PPE kits but with our resolve we are now in a position to export it. Same is with several medicines.  India is a very big market and it’s time we can use of it for our benefit and MSMEs can play a huge role here. And we as public should also purchase things made locally. In fact, not only money should not move from India to foreign countries, but money should flow from urban to rural areas by purchasing rural made products. This will boost our MSMEs and economy," he added.

ASSOCHAM is organizing a five-day-long virtual conference on its Foundation Day from Dec 15 to 19 with the central theme “India’s resilience: Atmanirbhar roadmap towards US$5 trillion economy” where a series of sessions are being dedicated by various ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad,  Piyush Goyal, Smriti Zubin Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Narendra Singh Tomar among others.

Speaking at the event, Niranjan Hiranandani, President, ASSOCHAM, said the government has done much for the MSME industry, it would still continue to look for all the support it can get from the government especially during these times.

“The MSME sector contributes 29.7 per cent to India’s GDP and accounts for 49.66 per cent of Indian Exports and close to 45 per cent of the manufacturing output of the country. It was one of those hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, as supply chains disrupted across the world and trade came to an almost standstill. Under the leadership of PM Modiji the several measures were announced as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package aimed to help MSMEs survive the impact of the unfolding pandemic, by infusing liquidity and lay the foundation of a more robust MSME sector for the long-term. Efforts should now be made that all the benefits announced for them reach them.”

Speaking on occasion, Vineet Agarwal, Sr. VP, ASSOCHAM, stressed on the need for more technology adoption by the MSMEs for better efficiency and competitiveness. “MSMEs face several challenges, including technological obsolescence, supply chain inefficiencies, increasing global competition, uncertain market scenario, and lack of funding. Given these challenges, it is critical to focus on creating tech-efficient MSMEs that they make optimal use of the technology-enabled platforms.”

Speaking at the session, Sushil Sarawgi, Managing Director, KOR Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd. said:  “Unorganised sector should get better access to low-cost capital, better access to latest production technologies so as to make them cost-competitive. Better access and training on imparting Quality in Manufacturing and Service so that their product or service quality can match with organized MSME and large players.”

Moderating the event, Manguirish Pai Raiker, Chairman, ASSOCHAM, Goa State Council and Chairman & Managing Director, Brown Packaging System Pvt. Ltd. said, “Atmanirbhar Bharat is key to the growth of our country which will help propel India to US$5 Trillion economy. MSME has the capability and capacity to manufacture good quality products to achieve self-reliance.”