Federation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME), with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), has outlined a list of suggestions to Ministry of Railways to draw smoother path for micro and small enterprises (MSE) procurements in Railway.

Suggesting the measures at a meeting with Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on development of micro and small enterprises in Railways, FISME enlisted measures such as 100 per cent development orders to new firms, 20 per cent reservation of regular order to new vendors, reduction in registration fee from Rs 25,000 to Rs 15,000 by Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), and reduction in number of documents from 22 to 5 by RDSO.

On the other hand, SIDBI presented a scheme on ‘Revolving Fund for Technology Innovation’ – Srijan Scheme – to provide financial assistance to MSMEs through Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC). The assistance can be given to Railway vending MSEs in the form of early stage debt funding on softer terms towards development, upscaling, demonstration and commercialisation of innovative technology based projects.

SIDBI also said that it would work jointly with Railways and leading industry associations in the country to disseminate information about the opportunities for MSMEs to work with Railways.

During the meeting, MSE vendors put forth their concerns and issues pertaining to lagging digitisation and delayed vendor approvals due to complex procedures of the sector.

The Union Minister assured the vendors that Ministry is working on various initiatives from digital contracting, supply chain digitisation to establishing organizations for technology upgradation, and research and analytics. He also invited suggestions from MSEs.