Ease of doing business for MSMEs: Hailing the measures introduced by the Modi government in the past nine years, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the decriminalisation of offences under the Companies Act will help most of the industries, particularly MSMEs. Addressing an event in Udupi, Karnataka, the minister said, “Elements which were troubling people in the name of treating someone like a criminal have been removed. So decriminalisation of the Companies Act has happened. This will help most of the industries, particularly MSMEs.”
“We have reduced unnecessary compliance burden by repealing more than 1,500 archaic laws and nearly 39,000 compliances,” Sitharaman said. The minister in her budget speech earlier this year had also informed that over 3,400 legal provisions have been decriminalised.
Sitharaman also listed out schemes for MSMEs launched by the Modi government in the past nine years.
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), ZED (Zero Defect, Zero Effect) scheme for improving quality and bringing sustainability, Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) scheme, and Udyam registration portal have been launched to benefit MSMEs, the minister said.
“Over 1.97 crore enterprises have registered on the Udyam portal (as of June 2023) to benefit from the various schemes available for MSMEs. In 2022, Modi Govt launched Rs 6,000 crore RAMP scheme and also the Capacity Building of First-Time MSME Exporters (CBFTE) scheme to encourage exports of products and services,” Sitharaman said.
Moreover, over seven IP Facilitation Centres had been approved under the MSME Innovative Scheme and 126 patents were granted, and 1,387 Trademarks’ cost was reimbursed under the IPR component in the first nine months of the scheme.
Under the Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises scheme of the Modi Government, 33 per cent of total procurement made by 158 Central Public Sector Enterprises has been from MSMEs, the highest ever till date, Sitharaman said.
She further noted that “We launched the TReDS platform (Trade Receivables Discounting System) so that the MSMEs and other corporations do not have to face any liquidity crunch due to non-payment by their buyer. Under the ‘Procurement and Marketing Support (PMS) Scheme, 5,100 MSEs across the country, including 205 SC/STs have been assisted by providing subsidies for participation in Trade Fairs and Exhibitions.”