Ease of doing business for MSMEs: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election manifesto released for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections with 103 promises including 16 top promises around food, housing, education, health, etc., also has sops for the state’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
According to the manifesto, the party said it will launch a state-level Credit Guarantee Trust for MSMEs to give collateral-free loans up to Rs 1 crore to small businesses in the state. Also, it will create a plug-and-play environment for MSMEs to avail workspace, business services, and logistical support at a nominal rent in every district if it comes back to power in Karnataka.
Importantly, in order to address the issue of delayed payments to businesses working with the government as contractors, the manifesto said it will ensure timely payment of bills to such government contractors by depositing money in an escrow account upon issuance of work orders, which would be released after certification by a Quality Control Committee.
The party also promised to launch a ‘Samanvaya Yojane’ or scheme to drive collaborations between the state’s small and medium enterprises and industrial training institutes focusing on employment for young professionals.
For women-led enterprises, the party said it will establish industrial clusters in every district with a dedicated revolving fund of Rs 500 crore as viability gap funding for enterprises based in the clusters. A revolving fund is an account that is available to fund operations throughout a financial year instead of lapsing at the end of the year.
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Already, “we have instituted a fund of Rs 500 crore under the Amruth Self Help Micro Enterprises Project benefitting 3.9 lakh women. We have given women entrepreneurs 71 per cent of the Mudra loans of the state,” the manifesto noted.
The ruling party also said it will broaden the scope of the PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme by incorporating a comprehensive plan that encompasses logistics, industrial clusters, connectivity, and export facilities generating 10 lakh manufacturing jobs.