MSME Secy urges CPSEs to ensure 4% procurement from SC/ST entrepreneurs at NSSH conclave

With an eye on the marginalised community of the nation and enhance the potential to work on-ground with impact, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Secretary Arun Kumar Panda has urged government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to ensure the 4 per cent procurement mandate from Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe enterprises.

The Secretary was addressing a conclave organised by National SC-ST Hub (NSSH) on September 12 in at Scope Complex in New Delhi.

“We have to come together to meet the target and Central ministries and CPSEs need to themselves come up with solutions to the lags in fulfilling the procurement mandate,” said Panda.

While chairing the ‘NSSH Conclave’, Panda interacted with various Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) from top ministries with respect to challenges suffered by them during procurement. CPSEs face certain challenges while carrying out the procurement as there is lack of validated data of SC/ST entrepreneurs, skills to make quality products, awareness about the procurement policy and absence of mechanism for establishing linkages between CPSEs and these enterprises.

“In the last 3 years, many CPSEs have improved their procurement from MSEs and especially the SC/ST enterprises. Though for most of them, there is a long way to go. They need to organise a lot of Vendor Development Programmes, do discussions with MSEs, provide hand-holding support, identify procurable items, conduct buyer-seller meets, so that suppose a particular part is being manufactured in a cluster, these CPSEs can actually go there,” Panda told SMEpost.

The Secretary also urged MSMEs to register on the Government e-Market (GeM) portal, pointing out the enormous opportunities it opens up for these opportunities.

“MSEs should put these items on GeM. The portal holds immense potential and has done tremendously well for small enterprises. We are especially taking up with Central ministries and CPSEs in this regard so that the SC/ST enterprises can benefit from it,” he told SMEpost.

National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Chairman Ravindra Nath also informed that 15 NSSH Facilitation Centres will come up by October to handhold and mentor SC/ST entrepreneurs.

“Engaging with CPSEs and MSEs, and exchange of best practices would be a gamechanger in achieving what we are trying to look upon. The purpose of such meetings and interactions is to remove the confusions around Procurement Policy for the benefit of micro and small enterprises. We should also collate the SC/ST enterprises data available with CPSEs for sharing of information,” Nath told SMEpost.

The National SC-ST Hub was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 18, 2016 in Ludhiana to create a support-system for SC/ST entrepreneurs by providing assistance over technology upgradation, capacity building, and eventually emerge them as effective participants in public procurement processes. Government formulated the Public Procurement Policy back in 2012 which mandates a procurement of at least 20 per cent goods and services by Central Ministries, Departments and CPSEs from MSEs and to further ensure that 20 per cent of that procurement (4 per cent of total) is made from SC & ST-owned MSEs.