Govt Exploring New Lending Institutions to Support Small Enterprises: Gadkari

The government is exploring new financial lending institutions to support small-scale units to provide financial support, said Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Road Transport and Highways (MORTH).

The Minister assured the industry stakeholders that the government is working towards strengthening the NBFCs which will help small businesses to avail easy credit in the coming time.

This is significant as most of the industry stakeholders across sectors are facing challenges while arranging finances for their businesses.

The Minister said during a meeting with the Members of Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, via video conferencing, on the impact of coronavirus on MSMEs and the measures taken to address the challenges at hand.

“These are trying times as we are waging a war against coronavirus pandemic as well as the economic instability caused by it,” he re-iterated.

The Minister also requested stakeholders to work in tandem and urged the industry to maintain a positive attitude during this time to tide over this crisis.

He also stressed upon the usage of safety measures such as PPE, masks, sanitizer etc. and advised to maintain social distancing norms in personal life and at workplaces.

By quoting his government’s recent announcement on Special Economic Package: Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Gadkari explained various support measures which have been announced for MSMEs such as collateral-free automatic loan, distress fund etc.

The Union Minister believed that all these measures will provide the required support to MSMEs to face the current economic challenges.

The MSMS & MORTH Minister also informed the industry representatives that there has been restructuring of 6 lakh MSMEs till March 2020 and the Ministry is aiming to cover an additional 25 lakh until December 2020.

Gadkari further said that the current contribution of MSMEs in export is 48 percent, which may be increased to 60 percent, and currently, 11 crore jobs have been created via MSMEs and this to be increased to 5 crore.

Additionally, he also mentioned that special focus towards export enhancement is the need of the hour, and there is a need to reduce our cost on production, logistics etc. to become economically viable.

Recently, in a meeting with members of Maha Solar Sangathan also the MORTH Minister emphasized on the need of export enhancement along with import substitution to replace foreign imports with domestic production. He also encouraged solar manufactures to make India self-reliant with the help of ‘Make in India’ products.

Gadkari urged industry representatives to come up with some new, innovative and economically viable business models which can be implemented in various sectors like agriculture, warehousing etc. to provide low-cost sustainable energy.

This will not only help in reducing the cost of energy in various sectors but also provide the required thrust for Make in India initiative, he added.