Over four lakh MSME units in the country are in the red for want of adequate credit and the Ministry of MSME is contemplating revival and rehabilitation of sick enterprises, Union Minister for MSMEs, Kalraj Mishra, said here today.

Stating that about 35,000 such units could be revived, the Minister, who was at the concluding session of Intec 2015, an International Machine Tools and Industrial Trade Fair at the Codissia Trade Fair Grounds, said “availability of adequate credit has always been a major issue for growth and sustenance of the MSME sector. While the Ministry took significant initiatives, announced schemes to address this issue, the sector continued to suffer for want of credit. Marketing is another area where the sector faced problems.”

To bail out the sector, the Ministry has sought to revive and rehabilitate the ailing units. Such units can apply to banks seeking more funds. The banks in turn will form a committee comprising industry representatives and one each from the Centre and the State and chalk out a “Corrective Action Plan”, thus giving the enterprise an opportunity to re-establish itself, Mishra explained.

Procurement policy Towards extending support on the marketing front, the government has announced Public Procurement Policy for MSEs under which 20 per cent of the total procurement of any government Ministry/ department/ public sector undertaking should be procured from micro and small enterprises. This has been made mandatory from April 1, Mishra said.

With a focus on inclusivity, the policy has a separate target of 4 per cent of the total procurement from the enterprises owned by persons from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Besides these initiatives, the Ministry is conducting more than 400 vendor development programmes to sensitise the MSEs, he said.

Manufacturing hub To facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development and build manufacturing infrastructure, investment caps and controls have been opened up. The strategy, he emphasised, is aimed at getting the house in order and convert India into a manufacturing hub and not towards selling it to MNCs.

“It is rather towards improving ease of doing business here,” he said and pointed out that efforts were on to make the registration process online and simpler. The consultation process is under way to minimise the multiplicity and complexity in labour laws and the Inspector Raj involving huge penalties under different Acts, Mishra said.

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