Here are some initiatives taken by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises during 2016 to boost the MSME space in the country.
PM ANNOUNCES SCHEMES AT NATIONAL MSME AWARDS IN LUDHIANA: It was for the first time that Prime Minister launched new Schemes of the Ministry at a function at Ludhiana. The owners of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), entrepreneurs in Khadi as well as Coir Sector also got enthused because of the awards given by the Prime Minister to them.
UDYOG AADHAAR MEMORANDUM: In the ease-of-doing business, the registration of MSMEs was simplified by launching one-page online Registration methodology. Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) was notified and launched on 18.9.2015 and more than 22 lakh Udyog Aadhaar Memorandums have been registered. UAM is now being modified after having discussions with various stakeholders including the State Governments and MSME Associations.
PROMOTION TOWARDS “LESS-CASH” ECONOMY: The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is encouraging MSMEs, especially micro enterprises to move towards “less cash” economy. The various organisations under the Ministry have already conducted more than 1600 programmes benefitting more than 27,000 enterprises to move towards “less cash” economy.
It has also been ordered that all the trainees being trained in the organisations under this Ministry should be encouraged to move to cashless payments.
TECHNOLOGY CENTRES: 13 new Technology Centres at Bhiwadi, Baddi, Rohtak, Bhopal, Durg, Kanpur, Greater Noida, Imphal, Vishakhapatnam, Ernakulam, Bangalore, Sitarganj and Pudducherry are coming up with the assistance of the World Bank scheme. More than Rs.2000 crores is being spent on the same, besides, the Government is also upgrading the Technology Centres at Dimapur (Nagaland) and is coming up with new Technology Centre at Agartala.
FINANCE FACILITATION CENTRES: To ensure availability of credit to the MSMEs, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) has already established seven Finance Facilitation Centres at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Guwahati, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Jaipur. Applicants could file online application for loan to a financial institution through Finance Facilitation Portal. EEC facilitates obtaining credit from financial institutions.
NSIC has also reduced the lending rates on raw material assistance by 1% on micro units and by 0.5% on small industries. It has also reduced its rate of Single Point Registration Scheme by 40% in case of micro entrepreneurs
ZED (ZERO DEFECT ZERO EFFECT) : Prime Minister also launched ZED (Zero Defect Zero Effect) Scheme under which the Ministry plans to assess 22,000 units to get themselves rated for Zero Defect Zero Effect. ZED certification will be in five categories viz., Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum. The rated MSMEs will get better business opportunities.
NATIONAL SCHEDULED CASTE / SCHEDULED TRIBE HUB : The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has been given the work of operationalization of National SC / ST Hub to ensure 4% procurement from SC/ ST entrepreneurs in all Central Government Ministries and Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The High Powered Monitoring Committee on SC / ST Hub has already met twice, which has resulted into more than 5000 SC / ST enterprises getting registered on msmedatabank.in.
PMEGP (PRIME MINISTERS’ EMPLOYMENT GENERATION PROGRMME) : PMEGP Management Information System (MIS) portal has been started w.e.f. 1st July 2016. PMEGP web portal has been set up making the scheme online. The application form has also been simplified to a single page. Since 2014 Rs. 2800 crore margin money has been disbursed to 1,20,436 beneficiaries generating employment for 9 lakh person.
KHADI : The production and sales of Khadi have significantly increased as the Prime Minister himself has blessed promotion of khadi at various fora. Designers have also been engaged to turn Khadi into a fashion fabric. In order to enhance artisan earnings, a Notification has been issued by increasing the base rate of yarn conversion from Rs. 4 to Rs. 5.50 per hank.
Under the new market promotion development assistance scheme, artisans will get enhanced assistance of 40% instead of earlier 25%. KVIC has also introduced an e-commerce and franchisee scheme to strengthen market of khadi and village industries products. Khadi Bhavans are being rebranded and developed as Khadi India outlets. KRDP is the first ADB programme which has been re-structured and will provide more than Rs. 500 crore for the development of khadi sector.
COIR BOARD: Domestic productions have touched a record high of 5.5 lakh tonnes. The exports during the last financial year crossed a record of Rs.1900 crores.
SFURTI / ASPIRE: Under SFURTI, 60 clusters have been approved with an approximate cost of Rs.118.63crores benefitting more than 54,091 artisans.Under ASPIRE 50 Livelihood Business Incubation (LBIs) and 5 Technology Business Incubation (TBIs) have been approved of which 20 have started incubation activities.
3500 incubatees are undergoing incubation/completed incubation in 20 LBIs.SFURTI &ASPIRE web portals have been set up for submitting the proposals as well as monitoring and implementation of the schemes.
E-INITIATIVES: The Ministry has tried to be very transparent in its operation and most of the schemes have become online. PMEGP is online with effect from 1st July 2016. As already indicated there are web portals for SFURTI and ASPIRE. Registration of MSMEs is only through Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM).
An online application system has been made operational for disbursement of Market Development Assistance to khadi institutions and artisans. An online application system (launched on 2.10.2016) has also been developed for khadi certification. All the schemes of the DC (MSME) are brought online through MyMSME app (even on mobile). Schemes of Coir Board have also been made online through MyCoir app.
IEDS (INDIAN ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT SERVICE): Though, the Enterprise Development is the main stay of the Ministry for quite sometime, for the first time the Cabinet has given approval by forming a new service namely, Indian Enterprise Development Service (IEDS). This will make the work of the Organisation more cohesive and also help to achieve the vision of “Startup India”, Standup India” and “Make in India”.
MSME DATABANK: An online Census of MSMEs has started with the launch of MSME Databank. and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Furnishing of Information) Rules, 2016 have been notified to make it compulsory for MSMEs to give information on MSME Databank. More than 59,000 units have already given information on MSME Databank till date.
