SIDBI and Assam govt collaborate for development of MSMEs

The event was chaired by Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma. During the event K. K. Dwivedi, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, government of Assam, presented the expectations of the state on three major themes -  startups, cluster development and livelihood and enterprise promotion.

Sarma called upon state level institutions and line departments to enhance co-operation with institutions like SIDBI. He said cluster programme should have twining with One District One Product model such that niche areas of state can be brought up in the value chain, thus helping those at the bottom of pyramid.

He also requested SIDBI to extend its expertise to manage startup fund along with active state level institutions.

He urged SIDBI to help the state in formulating a suitable guarantee fund leveraging Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) and also state extending its funds to either bear the service fee or extend the guarantee coverage beyond CGTMSE.

He also appreciated the Prayaas Scheme of SIDBI which can bring a change to the microfinance scenario in the state.

Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director, SIDBI said, “SIDBI has been laying thrust on kindling entrepreneurship through its Mission Swavalamaban and also by digitizing credit availability process such that end customers reap the benefit of lower rate of interest and transparent access. SIDBI has been dovetailing its promotion and development initiatives on soft side with hard infrastructure through its latest offerings such as cluster development fund.

"SIDBI looks forward to deepening its footprint in the state of Assam by contributing to livelihood and micro enterprise value chain as also innovation and startup ecosystem.”

It was also agreed upon that the project specific moderately priced loan assistance under SIDBI Cluster Development Fund (SCDF) shall be extended by SIDBI to State Government for upgrading various existing MSME clusters and for developing new industrial infrastructural facilities in the State of Assam.

SIDBI has set up Project Management Units (PMUs) in 11 states namely, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu as recommended by the Expert Committee on MSMEs for a more focused engagement of SIDBI with state governments for MSME development and promotion to create a low-cost lending window for state governments for infrastructure projects in clusters.

The PMU in Assam has worked closely with Industries department and Rural Livelihood Mission to give fillip to formalization, sustainable digital marketing, undertaken rapid profiling of migrant labors options for entrepreneurship and mapped the key hard infrastructure projects.

It may be mentioned that SCDF has been setup with support of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to support the hard infrastructure facilities in clusters pan India.

The fund is envisaged to support setting up, upgrading and renovation of MSME infrastructure in areas other than agriculture.  The major sectors include industrial and agri-allied sectors in the MSME eco-space, social sector projects in and around MSME clusters and connectivity to MSME Clusters.