Seventh Meeting of the National Board for Micro, small & medium Enterprises held

The Government is committed to the growth of MSME sector. Recently, the Report of the Task Force on MSMEs set up under the Chairmanship of the Principal Secretary, Shri T. K. Nair was presented to the Prime Minister. The report provides a roadmap for the development and promotion of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. This was stated by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Shri Dinsha Patel while presiding over the 7th Meeting of the National Board for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NBMSME) here today.

The Report makes detailed recommendations in the areas of credit, marketing, labour, rehabilitation and exit policy, infrastructure, technology and skill development, taxation etc. In addition, it suggests setting up of appropriate legal and regulatory structures to create a conducive environment for entrepreneurship.

The Minister emphasized that the recommendations would be implemented in a time bound manner with an upper limit of six months. He said that we are dependent on our partners - State Governments and MSME Associations in this endeavour. The main agenda of today’s meeting was discussion on the report of the Task Force. Shri Madhav Lal, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner gave a presentation on the recommendation of the Task Force and roadmap for implementation.

The Board Members deliberated on the recommendations of the Task Force in detail and gave valuable suggestions which included, conduct of Market Surveys to identify rural demand in view of cash flow to rural areas on account of Social Sector Developmental Programmes and Bank Loan Waiver Scheme, creation of conducive business environment and establishment of consultative mechanism with Ministry of MSME for Goods & Services Tax(GST) related issues.

Shri Arun Maira, Member Planning Commission, spoke on India’s war on eradication of poverty and generation of employment where the role of MSME sector is crucial. He especially mentioned about the role of institutional reforms at implementation level.

-2- Shri V.K. Sharma, Executive Director, RBI informed that once the new base rate system for lending comes into effect, it would considerably reduce the rate of interest for lending especially to MSMEs.

Shri Dinesh Rai, Secretary, MSME while summing up the discussion, mentioned that ensuring the flow of credit is crucial for the healthy growth of MSME Sector and reassured the Ministry’s commitment in implementing the recommendation of Task Force in a time bound manner.

Various State Ministers, Members of Parliament, Secretaries of Central Ministries, Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Banks, Representatives of MSME Associations and Trade Unions from all over the country and senior officials participated in the daylong deliberations.

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RTS/VN