The Hindu Business Line : CII favours easier FDI norms for small units

Hyderabad, Sept. 19 The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is advocating simplification of the Foreign Exchange Act for easier participation of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.

“One of the recommendations that the CII has made to the Government is to continue giving SSI status to companies even if the FDI limit is above 25 per cent,” Mr Ramesh Datla, Chairman, CII National MSME Council and Managing Director, Elico Ltd, said while addressing a seminar here on Friday. The industry body has also recommended automatic approval for 100 per cent FDI from non-resident Indians.

Mr Datla also said that Government has given an in-principle approval and both the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange have given their consent for creation of an SME exchange.

“Currently, discussions are on in the Finance Ministry for coming out with a scheme for creating such an exchange. The idea of the SME exchange is to create an effective market for raising equity funds by the SME sector and create a platform for infusing fresh capital to expand their business,” Mr Datla said.

SME portal

In an effort to upgrade the SME sector, CII is also launching an SME portal as a one-stop shop for information on the sector. The portal will also include information on policy and marketing issues. “The portal will be launched by the year-end and it will also help in sharing of the best practices and facilitate business-to-business and business-to-consumer activities for MSMEs,” he said.

Mr Anil Girotra, Executive Director, Andhra Bank, said that money is a critical component for the survival of MSMEs or any unit and banks need to do more for the development sector.

“More research and development activities should be undertaken for qualitative improvement of products, an apex level also needs to be formed so that MSMEs can be helped to face the competition from large units and imports,” he said.

More Stories on : Industry Associations | Forex | Andhra Pradesh

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