Ease of doing business for MSMEs: 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre Subhas Chandra Lal Das has joined the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as its new Secretary. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Department of Personnel and Training under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions earlier this week approved his appointment.
In his previous role, Das served as the Director General of Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas since December 2019 and was earlier the Joint Secretary at Ministry of Home Affairs. Das is an M.Phil in Public Management and B.Sc. in Statistics. He has replaced BB Swain who was appointed as the Secretary in the MSME ministry in January 2021.
Among other appointments approved by ACC earlier this week were Rameshwar Prasad Gupta appointed as CMD of Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd.; Bharat Lal, Director General, National Centre for Good Governance appointed as Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission; Atal Dulloo appointed as Secretary, Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs; Vibhu Nayar, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of External Affairs appointed as Special Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of External Affairs; and more.
The MSME ministry is headed by MSME minister Narayan Rane followed by Minister of State Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Secretary Das, Additional Secretary Dr Rajneesh, and Additional Secretary-and-Financial Adviser Arti Bhatnagar. The ministry has three joint secretaries – Vipul Goel for the Agro and Rural Industry (ARI) division, Mercy Epao for the SME division and Ateesh Kumar Singh for the Administration and Financial Institutions (AFI) division.
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On May 9, 2007, the erstwhile Ministry of Small Scale Industries and the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries were merged to form the MSME ministry. While the primary responsibility of the promotion and development of MSMEs is of the state governments, the centre supplements the efforts of the state governments through various initiatives.
Importantly, the role of the MSME ministry and its organisations is to assist the states in their efforts to encourage entrepreneurship, employment and livelihood opportunities and enhance the competitiveness of MSMEs.