Secretary, MSME chairs MSME Conclave for National SC/ST Hub at Sindhudurg, Maharashtra

MSME schemes earlier applicable to manufacturing industries, have been extended to service sector as well: Secretary, MSME

Sindhudurg/ Mumbai, 26th February 2022

Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, B.B Swain chaired MSME Conclave for National SC/ST Hub at Sindhudurg in Maharashtra today. The MSME- NSSH Conclave was organized as part of the 2-Day MSME Conclave by the Ministry of MSME. The Conclave was inaugurated by Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Shri Narayan Rane yesterday. At the conclave, the Minister launched Union Bank MSME RuPay Credit Card and inaugurated Coir Board Regional Office at Kankavali in Sindhudurg.

The NSSH Conclave aims to promote entrepreneurship and help spread the fruits of development across all sections of the society, especially the marginalized groups including SC/ST entrepreneurs. Young SC ST entrepreneurs were felicitated at the conclave today.

Speaking at the conclave where senior officials from the Ministry of MSME were present, Secretary, MSME Ministry stressed that the conclave is an outreach programme with all stakeholders of the MSME sector. He added ‘the MSME schemes which were earlier applicable to manufacturing industries, have been extended to support of the service sector as well’.

At the conclave, Shri Swain talked about how Central Government is focusing on providing a level-playing field for SC-ST entrepreneurs. The Government is constantly trying to make procurement activities of the public sector to be more inclusive and participative. He also emphasized that MSME sector plays a significant role in terms of job creation and expanding manufacturing base. Currently, it consists of over 6 crore units employing over 11 crore people and is a seminal contributor to the economic growth with over 30% of contribution to GDP and over 49% of overall exports from India

Chairman of Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Vinay Kumar Saxena said Khadi has created 35 lakhs jobs in last 7 years. KVIC chairman pitched for development of Honey industry in Konkan. He said ‘If each person keeps 10 honey bee-boxes then Konkan will be number one district in honey production in country’.

Milind Kamble, Member Advisory Committee NSSH & Chairman of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry lauded the MSME Ministry for the conclave. He said ‘the MSME ministry has tried to reach at the doorstep of the SC/ST entrepreneurs through the Conclave. ‘The fusion of the business ideas discussed at the Conclave and MSME schemes has the potential to create 100 new entrepreneurs under Stand-Up India’, he added.

The aim of the MSME- NSSH Conclave is to provide opportunity to develop coherence with State Government and collaborate with National SC-ST Hub for achievement of higher goals. The Conclave brought various important insights from CPSEs and Industry Association to understand the gaps in realizing the mandate of Public Procurement Policy. At the conclave, 5 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) including GOA Shipyard Ltd, Konkan Railway, Rastriya Chemicals Fertilizer, India Rare Earth Limited and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) deliberated upon steps taken to empower SC-ST Entrepreneurs and fulfil the Public Procurement Policy mandate for SC-ST entrepreneurs.

Further, representatives from 4 banks including IDBI Capital, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank and Bank of India informed about various Government schemes focused on finance, technology upgradation, skilling, and marketing to provide extend benefits to local aspiring and existing entrepreneurs.

The National SC/ST Hub (NSSH) aims to provide professional support to the SC/ST enterprises thereby enabling them to effectively participate in public procurement process. The purpose of the Hub is to encourage participation by CPSEs/Central Ministries, States, Industry Associations such as DICCI and others. The Hub also aims work towards the development of new entrepreneurs to participate in procurement process leveraging on the ‘Stand up India’ programme.

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