Asserting that MSMEs continue to play a crucial role in India’s economic growth, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that time is ripe to attract more foreign investments into MSME sector.  Addressing the ICAI virtual international conference 2022, Gadkari urged the chartered accountants fraternity to play a leading role in attracting foreign investments into the MSME sector.  “ Our MSMEs contribute to 30 per cent of the growth. We need more capital investments to push growth. We are trying our level best to get more foreign investments in MSMEs. CAs role in this is important”, he said. 

Gadkari described chartered accountants as “main pillar of Indian economy” and urged them to use their innovative approach to capital raising and thereby support the Indian economy and MSMEs. “Attracting foreign investment into MSMEs is a huge challenge for all of us. We are trying our level best to accelerate growth in Indian economy. Because of Covid we are facing problems“, he said. 

Digitalisation

Gadkari highlighted that digitalisation is equally important, especially in government departments. “Digitalisation can help us to be more transparent, corruption-free and result-oriented”, he added.  Highlighting the government’s thrust on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Gadkari also urged the CAs to come up with suggestions on how the country could reduce imports. “ The main area where CAs can play a role is is how can we increase our exports while reducing imports. There is huge potential and development of infrastructure is among the highest priority of the government.  The minister also sees chartered accountants playing a critical role in the monetisation of infrastructure projects. “We are already monetising road projects. We are getting excellent response from the market. Our idea is to do monetisation of ₹5 lakh crore in next two years. We are also planning monetisation of gas pipeline and power transmission lines. There is huge possibility of getting investment from abroad”, he said.  Gadkari also underscored the need to develop rural industries.