MSME sector accounts for almost half of India’s exports: Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi

The Union Minister for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Jitan Ram Manjhi, on Friday hailed the MSME sector a day after his visit to the Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring Instruments (IDEMI) and Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) offices in Mumbai. Unscoring that the MSME sector contributed to 30.1 per cent of India’s GDP, the minister highlighted how Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises accounted for 45.73 per cent of the country’s exports.

The MSME sector in India also covers 35.4 per cent of manufacturing in the country, added Manjhi. The minister also visited the MSME Technology Centre at IDEMI in Mumbai, and stressed on how the Institute was involved in manufacturing components for India’s moon mission, Chandrayaan.

During his visit, Manjhi went through an overview of Chandrayaan component manufacturing and the AR/VR lab, along with presentations on the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGFMSE) and PM Vishwakarma schemes.

India has two MSME portals, the Udyam portal with 3.80 crore units, and the Udyam Assist Portal for informal micro-enterprises with 2.72 crore units in its database. Together, these 6.5 crore MSME units provided employment opportunities to 28 crore people till date, said the union minister.

Apart from these, the various schemes under the MSME ministry look to bolster the sector. PM Vishwakarma scheme provided “end-to-end support to artisans and craftspeople of 18 trades who work with their hands and tools,” according to the ministry.

“The Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), which is a major credit-linked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through the establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector, assisted 80.33 lakh people to gain employment, eighty per cent of which was in rural areas,” stated the MSME ministry.

Manjhi also hailed the organisations under the MSME ministry, such as the KVIC, Coir Board, and National Small Industries Corporation, for their performance. These entities made use of the Centre’s schemes to support small industries and expand the reach of village products, adding to India’s GDP and exports, said the union minister.

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