The draft Jharkhand MSME Policy 2023 released by the state government on Wednesday proposed a dedicated directorate of MSME at the state level and a District MSME Centre (DMC) in every district of the state for the development and growth of the MSME sector in Jharkhand. While the directorate will be responsible for the implementation of state and central government MSME schemes and programmes in the state, DMCs will provide necessary services and support to facilitate entrepreneurs in setting up MSMEs such as Udyam registration, single-window clearances, expansion of manufacturing and service MSMEs in rural and urban areas etc.
Initially, the existing District Industry Centres (DICs) in the state will be designated as DMCs in the district to support MSMEs.
Currently, Jharkhand has more than 3.5 lakh MSMEs registered on the Udyam portal, according to the data from the portal. This was 1.69 per cent of 2.08 crore Udyam MSMEs (excluding registrations via Udyam Assist Platform) across India.
The draft policy also proposed to launch the Jharkhand MSME Special Concession Act 2023 to provide exemptions to MSMEs from all approvals and inspections such as permission, NOC, clearance, approvals, consent, registration, licence, etc. under any state law in connection with establishment or operation of an enterprise.
The government said it will also focus on cluster-based development of MSMEs to “position MSMEs on a level playing field with large players while retaining their integrity as individual businesses,” the draft noted.
In addition, regular training and workshops would be organised at the district level on the use of technology and new technology introduced in the MSME sector other than training and skill development programmes to be conducted periodically in MSME clusters. Here, MSMEs would be encouraged to provide job-specific technical training and run re-skilling programmes in coordination with local polytechnics, government research institutes and training centres.
Among the incentives proposed under the draft policy were:
- Interest subsidy of 5 per cent per annum for new MSMEs on timely payment of loans availed from public financial institutions or banks for five banks from the date of commercial production. The maximum limit would be Rs 25 lakh for micro units, Rs 1 crore for small enterprises and Rs 2 crore for medium enterprises.
- The guarantee fee charged under the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) will be reimbursed to the enterprises in order to improve the CGTMSE coverage for collateral-free loans in the state.
- 100 per cent reimbursement of stamp duty and registration fee for land directly purchased from the raiyats or acquired through consent award. This will be granted only for the first transaction for a particular plot of land.
- Assistance for obtaining quality certification from B.I.S. and other internationally recognised institutions at 100 per cent of the expenditure incurred up to a maximum of Rs 25 lakh.
- Financial assistance of 50 per cent of the expenditure incurred on patent registration, up to a maximum of Rs 25 lakh per patent. Up to Rs 10 lakh may be given on expenditure incurred in filing of patent, attorney fees, patent tracking etc. and up to Rs 25 lakh on final acceptance of the patent.
- 100 per cent reimbursement of electricity duty for 5 years from the date of commencement of commercial production.
- 100 per cent reimbursement of expenditure incurred in obtaining trademark registration subject to a maximum limit of Rs 3 lakh.
- New enterprises will be offered one-time financial assistance of 20 per cent of expenditure incurred for raising capital through SME Exchange subject to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh after successful raising of equity as per the scheme approved by SME Exchange.
- Financial assistance of 75 per cent for implementing ERP solutions and ICT solutions, subject to a maximum limit of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakhs respectively.
- 50 per cent reimbursement of expenditure incurred in consultancy charges, for obtaining green rating for industrial buildings from Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) subject to a maximum financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh.