New Delhi: The Centre has taken a number of initiatives to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) get easier access to finance, timely payments and faster technology adoption, according to information tabled in Parliament on Monday.
These include the Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) under which an additional corpus fund of Rs. 9,000 crore was infused to enable an additional credit of Rs 2 lakh crore, at a reduced cost of credit. Further, the guarantee ceiling has been increased from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore with effect from April 1 this year to MSEs, with guarantee coverage up to 90 per cent, for various categories of loans.
The Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme also provides a margin money subsidy of up to 35 per cent for setting up new micro enterprises in the non-farm sector, with a project cost of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, for manufacturing and services enterprises, respectively.
The PM Vishwakarma scheme provides end-to-end holistic support to artisans and craftspeople of 18 traditional trades who work with their hands and tools. It includes provision of loans up to Rs. 3 lakh with interest subvention of max up to 8 per cent.
Besides, a Self-Reliant India (SRI) Fund has been set up to infuse Rs. 50,000 crore as equity funding in MSMEs. Under this Fund, there is a provision of Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre and Rs 40,000 crore through Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds.
To ensure timely payment settlements for MSEs across the country, the Ministry of MSME launched the SAMADHAAN Portal for monitoring of the outstanding dues to the MSEs. 161 Micro & Small Enterprises Facilitation Councils (MSEFCs) have so far been set up in States/UTs. The ministry also launched the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Portal on June 27 this year to provide end-to-end digitised resolution of the delayed payment cases.
The RBI has also issued guidelines for setting up and operating the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) to facilitate the financing of trade receivables of MSMEs from corporate and other buyers, including government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs), through multiple financiers electronically. Five entities are presently operating TReDS. The monetary limit for onboarding on TReDS for Corporates and CPSEs has been reduced to a turnover of Rs. 250 crore.
In order to promote technology upgradation in the MSME sector, the MSME Ministry is implementing various schemes, which include MSE-Cluster Development Programme (Common Facility Centres), Tool Rooms/Technology Centres, Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) – Green Investment Financing for Transformation (GIFT) Scheme, and MSME Champions Scheme.
(IANS)
