MSMEs Sector Plays Pivotal Role In Country's Growth; Govt Committed To Help: Union Minister Pratap Chandra SarangiIndia is a home to more than 60 million MSMEs in various industries and close to 124 million people are associated with it

MSMEs which is the backbone of this country's economy has suffered the most due to the ongoing pandemic followed by months-long lockdown. MSMEs is considered the second largest employer after agriculture and contributes a significant portion of India's GDP. Few experts believe that the key to India's economic revival lies with MSMEs.

印度联合工商会同时解决一个会话处于conference, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said that the government understands the importance and contribution of MSMEs for the nation and is fully committed to support the MSME sector grow and reach at its full potential.

He said that during the lockdown, the supply chain of most of the MSMEs in the country was disarrayed, and the workforce left for their homes thus shutting the production. In order to provide a lending hand, the government of India announced a stimulus of INR 20 lakh crore under the initiative of AtmaNirbhar Bharat which means self reliant India. He said that this initiative will strengthen five major provisions which are economy, infrastructure, system, vibrant demography and demand. According to him MSMEs can play a crucial role by standing robust on five above mentioned pillars, further making India self reliant. Giving example he said that earlier India used to import PPE kits from China. However, now as the country stands united and the sense of self reliance has been invoked, India is producing more than 5 lakh of PPE kits daily and even exported to other countries.

India is a home to more than 60 million MSMEs in various industries and close to 124 million people are associated with it. Of these around 14 per cent are women-led enterprises and close to 60 per cent are based in rural parts of the country. According to the minister, the employment opportunity flow from rural to urban has reversed after the pandemic. He further highlighted that MSMEs sector comprise 45 per cent of the country's merchandise exports and 8 per cent of the country's GDP, thus pointing that strengthening them would result in multiple impetuses, boosting economic and employment and mitigating issues of migrating skilled/unskilled and professionals.

He urged people to buy locally and support "Vocal for Local' and said that the money should not be drained to foreign countries.

He noted that the money should not flow from rural to urban and said that upliftment of rural India is necessary to drive the country's economy. He asked various sectors to establish their production and manufacturing plant to rural India thus creating better livelihood to farmers and labourers. He noted that rural women who have developed a generic aptitude in artistic rendition can be trained in various forms of art and can support their families. The government has further signed MoUs with various fashion designing organisations and institutions to encourage them.

He said that apart from the stimulus package the government has made sure that the enterprises get loans from the banks. He said that around 50 per cent of the loans have been disbursed and asked enterprises to take loans to grow and payback in time.

He said that though the pandemic has pulled down the country's economy, it is through coordinated effort and will power we can overcome this situation and help India to become a $5 trillion economy