Ease of doing business for MSMEs: The MSME ministry on Monday shared an annual update on various ongoing initiatives and announcements made in 2022 as part of its year-end review. These initiatives or schemes are operated through various organizations under the MSME ministry viz., Office of Development Commissioner (MSME), Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Coir Board, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ni-msme).
Other than organisations, the schemes also function through a network of field formations across the country to support and handhold MSMEs. These include MSME Development and Facilitation Offices (MSME-DFO), Branch MSME-DFOs, MSME Testing Centres, MSME-Testing Stations and Technology Centres (Tool Room & Technical Institutions) and field offices of KVIC, Coir Board and NSIC.
Below is the annual update of the key schemes in 2022 shared in a statement by the MSME ministry:
Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): The maximum financial assistance offered to entrepreneurs under the PMEGP scheme was increased from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for setting up new manufacturing units and from existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for new service units. The scheme was also extended over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs 13,554.42 crore. According to the ministry, 95,271 units were assisted under the scheme generating a total estimated employment of 7.62 lahks from January 2022 to November 2022. Launched in 2008, the scheme enabled the setting up of over 8.34 lakh enterprises and the employment of around 68 lakhs.
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Credit Guarantee Scheme: Under the credit guarantee scheme for micro and small enterprises (CGTMSE), which provides collateral-free loans up to Rs 2 crore to micro and small units, approved 7.07 lakh guarantees involving Rs 60,376 crore till November end in the current fiscal. “This (number of guarantees) was highest since the inception of the scheme in 2000-01,” the ministry said. Importantly, the government had extended the scheme to women and SC-ST entrepreneurs, MSEs certified with the Zero Defect and Zero Effect (ZED) scheme, and MSEs based in aspirational districts in the country from December 1 with credit guarantee coverage up to 85 per cent.
Micro and Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP): The CDP for MSEs by the MSME Ministry, which aims to strengthen capacity building for MSEs through projects such as Common Facility Centers (CFCs) and Infrastructure Development (IDs) centers, approved 24 projects amounting to Rs 513.4 crore with government’s assistance of Rs 364 crore while five projects were completed from January till November this year.
Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI): The government’s cluster support scheme SFURTI, which brings traditional sectors and artisans into organised clusters, approved the development of 65 clusters with an assistance of Rs 186.26 crore directly benefitting 36,258 artisans from January till November, 2022. Out of 266 total clusters, 104 turned functional this year. The support offered to clusters includes infrastructure creation such as the establishment of Common Facility Centres (CFCs), procurement of new machinery and raw material, capacity building, design and marketing linkage, exposure visits, etc.
Procurement and Marketing Support (PMS) Scheme: Between April 2022 to November 2022, 5,100 MSEs including 205 units owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs were assisted with subsidies for participation in trade fairs or exhibitions across the country. The ministry said the scheme promotes new market access initiatives and enhances the marketability of products and services in the MSME sector.
International Cooperation scheme: Under the International Cooperation (IC) scheme, which provides financial assistance to MSMEs and industry associations to participate in international exhibitions abroad, organize international conferences in India, buyer-seller meets, etc., 40 associations and 144 MSMEs benefitted between January 1 and December 23.
MSME-Sustainable (ZED) Certification scheme: The scheme launched in April this year registered 23,000 MSMEs with 834 of them awarded with bronze certification while 35 units secured silver certification and 29 were awarded gold certification. Moreover, 15 banks had notified incentives to ZED-certified MSMEs in the form of concessions in processing fee and rate of interest. The scheme encourages MSMEs to improve their manufacturing processes and systems to enhance quality and move towards sustainability and certifies them based on various parameters achieved.
Technology Centres (Tool Room & Technical Institutions): The centres provide trained personnel, consultancy in tooling and upgradation of technologies or products to MSMEs in sectors such as foundry & forging, electronics, electrical measuring instruments, fragrance & flavour, glass, sports goods, etc. Till November end of this year, 29,540 MSMEs were assisted by 18 Tool Rooms & Technical Institutions.
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Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP), which provides skill development training to people for entrepreneurship, conducted 1,222 programmes benefiting 91,938 people between January 1 and December 23, 2022, while 2,68,070 people imparted skill training through various organizations under the ministry till November 2022.
National SC-ST Hub (NSSH): 17,782 SC-ST entrepreneurs were assisted between January and November this year under NSSH which aims at promoting entrepreneurship among the SC/ST individuals and fulfilling the 4 per cent procurement mandate by the central public sector enterprises under the Public Procurement Policy.
Khadi Gramodyog Vikas Yojana: Between January and November 2022, 1,123 Khadi institutions (KIs) were disbursed Rs 186.89 crore, benefitting 1.51 lakh artisans under ‘Modified Market Development Assistance’ (MMDA) while 1,041 institutions were disbursed Rs 29.14 crore under ‘Interest Subsidy Eligibility Certificate’ (ISEC) scheme. Moreover, 817 work sheds were developed for Khadi artisans with a disbursement of Rs 4.90 crore under the ‘Workshed Scheme for Khadi Artisans’. Also, 20,780 bee boxes were distributed benefitting 2,078 persons with a disbursement of Rs 5.48 crore under Honey Mission/beekeeping.