The government is working on reviving as many as 4,500 of
the nearly 12.2 lakh MSME units that were declared “sick” by the RBI in 2013.As part of the plan, the government is taking steps aimed at
strengthening the MSME sectors which formed the “backbone of Indian economy.”
Of the existing 3.62 crore MSMEs in the country, over 12.2 lakhs were declared
sick units by the RBI based on its guidelines.
“The government is working on reviving as many as 4,500 such
units…The government is also planning to open up 1,500 incubation centres to
hand-hold innovators and entrepreneurs, and has also opened a couple of skill
development centres in Noida and Hyderabad to get entrepreneurs and ITI diploma
holders together under one roof to thrash out their ideas for new
entrepreneurship. The government has also opened some of the 18 planned tool
rooms, which are specially located in areas where facilities for industry are
limited,” Kalraj Mishra, the Union MSME minister said recently.
He said the government was planning to make it mandatory for
PSUs to make 27 per cent purchases form MSMEs from April 2015 onwards.The representatives of the MSMEs have come up with several
suggestions including implementation of goods and services tax in place of
excise, service tax, VAT, etc., revision in the definition of the MEMEs,
non-application of the NPA norms for new units up to three years, low interest
rates of loans to MSMEs, single point monitoring bodies, MSME service sector be
treated at par with manufacturing sector, power subsidy schemes, and financial
support to MSME help desk being run by industry chambers.
Mishra said the government was considering all these
recommendations, especially the one related to changing the definition of the
MSMEs which the industry bodies have demanded should be revised in keeping with
inflation.The industry body believes that a micro enterprise should be
defined as a one with an investment of between Rs 25-50 lakh; small enterprise
as one with upto Rs 10 crore investment; and medium enterprise as one with an
investment of Rs 10-20 crore.
