NE bestowed with rich resources
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network
Shillong, January 10 2012:
Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Virbhadra Singh today said, "The North Eastern Region of the country has bestowed with rich natural and human resources including challenges.
Inaugurating the 7th North East Business Summit organized by DoNER and Indian Chamber of Commerce in New Delhi today, Singh expressed the need to channelize these vast resources for the overall growth & development of the area.
Worldwide, the MSMEs have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and for promoting equitable development.
The Minister said, "In India too, the MSMEs play a pivotal role in the overall industrial economy of the country.
It is estimated that in terms of value, the sector accounts for about 45 per cent of the manufacturing output and over 40 per cent of the total exports of the country, Press Information Bureau sources in Shillong said.
He further said, "The Ministry has initiated ten innovative schemes under the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme to assist MSMEs in improving their processes, design, technology and market access.
The ten components of this programme includes schemes like "Lean Manufacturing", "Design Clinics", "Quality Control", "ICT Application", "Energy Efficiency" and "Building Awareness on Intellectual Property Rights".
The Ministry is also implementing the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for assisting MSEs in upgrading their technology.
The scheme provides for 15% capital subsidy on institutional loans up to Rs.1 crore availed by the MSEs, the sources said.
Virbhadra Singh said, that in order to ensure better flow of credit to MSEs by minimizing the risk perception of banks and financial institutions in lending without collateral security, the Government is implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme.
The scheme provides guarantee cover of up to 85% on collateral-free credit facility extended by lending institutions to new and existing MSEs for loans up to Rs.100 lakh.
More than 6.47 lakhs proposals have been approved under the Scheme so far.
The Government is also implementing another credit linked scheme, namely, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) for assisting the young entrepreneurs to set up new micro enterprises in the manufacturing as well as the services sector.
The Scheme provides for attractive subsidy for promoting self-employment and has the potential of providing employment to a very large number of people, especially in the rural areas.
The Minister also added that funds are no constraint for development of North East and all activities taken up by the Ministry will be actively pursued.
He assured that problems, particularly in setting up of MSEs will be removed and solved, the sources added.
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