The Finance ministry has announced a slew measures to boost the beleaguered MSME sector.

Hit by twin attacks of demonetization and GST, the sector has been crying for urgent policy attention.

Last week the revenue secretary hinted at re-calibrating the rate structure to give relief to the sector.Flanked by his top secretaries, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, laid the state of the economy in a well articulated presentation on macro and micro economy.

Initiating a set of reforms for the banking sector in terms of mitigating the ever rising Non Performing Assets (NPAs), the finance ministry said that the government actions were not limited to addressing capitalisation of public sector banks.

Definite steps will be taken alongside capitalisation to enable them to play a major role in the financial system. PSBs having 70 per cent market share in the banking space will be geared for greater growth and to contribute through enhanced credit off-take.  The stage, the finance ministry said has been set with a ‘MUDRA Protsahan’ campaign across the country.

“There was no authentic data available on demonetisation and its impact on job loss. By giving a push to MSMEs, one of our main aims is the creation of new jobs,”Jaitley said when asked about the current slowdown in generation of jobs.

There will be a strong push on enabling growth of MSMEs through enhanced access to financing and markets, and a drive to finance MSMEs in 50 clusters. While Ministries concerned will spearhead and provide momentum, banks will undertake speedy processing of loan applications in a hassle-free manner.

Fintech companies will be roped in to cut down the appraisal process and generate quality loan applications. MSMEs will be handheld by extending support through compulsory TReDS (Trade Receivables electronic Discount System) registration by major PSUs within next 90 days, for shortening the cash cycle; sector-specific Mudra financial products, such as Mudra Leather, Mudra Textiles, etc;  100 bank-approved MSME project templates for speedier credit; revamped udyamimitra.in portal, so that banks compete for financing MSME projects; and drive for registering MSMEs on the GeM (Government electronic Marketplace) portal and e-commerce platforms