Credit and finance for MSMEs: 6.35 lakh MSMEs are likely to benefit from better access to market, finance and credit under the Rs 6,000-crore Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) scheme for MSMEs, according to the finance ministry. Sharing the scheme’s update, the ministry in a tweet on Friday said 25 states and one union territory have been onboarded to be part of the World Bank-assisted programme. The scheme was announced in the budget last year to be rolled out over years, beginning in the current fiscal, to help the MSME sector become more resilient, competitive, and efficient.
The targetted beneficiary count is higher than the earlier target of 5.5 lakh MSMEs announced in a statement by the World Bank back in June 2021, around a year after the scheme was originally announced back in 2020 by the government and the World Bank to support Covid-hit MSMEs in the country.
Also read: MSME minister Narayan Rane launches web portal for World Bank-assisted RAMP scheme
The finance ministry also updated that an Online Dispute Resolution Framework for the resolution of delayed payments is ready. Importantly, one of the ‘targeted outcomes and measurable result indicators’ according to a World Bank’s May 2021 document on the scheme details is “100 per cent disposal of applications by micro and small enterprise facilitation councils (MSEFCs) from the current 7 per cent and increase use of online dispute resolution services through the Samadhaan portal.”
According to the World Bank, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) addresses timing and capacity concerns experienced with MSEFCs by enabling multiple accredited and trained mediators to provide services remotely, even if they are not based in the respective location. It is a time and resource-efficient way of dispute resolution that can be applied to delayed payments to MSME suppliers.”
Also read: PM Modi launches RAMP scheme for MSMEs, CBFTE scheme for first-time exporters
ODR is generally 90 per cent cheaper in comparison to face-to-face arbitration. Moreover, private service providers ODR pricing appears to be comparable to MSEFC fees,” it added.
Meanwhile, MSME Minister Narayan Rane earlier this month had launched the web portal of the RAMP scheme, over six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the scheme. According to a statement by the minister of state for MSMEs Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in the Rajya Sabha in July last year, the scheme aims at inviting states and union territories to prepare financing roadmap called Strategic Investment Plans (SIPs) in the first year of its implementation while the projects or businesses proposed in the SIPs will be funded on their appraisals by the MSME ministry.
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