COIMBATORE: The Centre would soon introduce positive radical reforms in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which would create more opportunities, director (planning and marketing) of the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) P Udayakumar said here on Thursday. 

Based on interaction he had with the union minister of MSMEs, Nitin Gadkari, Udayakumar, who was speaking at the inaugural session of Intec 2019, the machine tools and industrial trade fair organised by the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia), said the ministry would introduce “sweeping reforms” in the sector. 

Stating that MSMEs currently faced issues in three areas, market creation, skill development and credit limitation, Udayakumar said major reforms in credits to MSMEs would be done. “Banks would become active in providing credits to MSMEs. We have also been talking to the World Bank for possible additional credits for MSMEs in the country.” 

While the on-ground success factor of major schemes such as Make in India, Digital India, Startup India, and Standup India were not really visible so far, the Centre would vigorously activate these schemes, he said. “We will be able to see very tangible results in the next three to four months by the way of tweaking the policies and the way of implementation through various bodies including state governments. MSMEs in Coimbatore can take advantage of these reforms.” 

Later, speaking to TOI on the sidelines of the event, the official said the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) was considering new verticals and interventions such as providing aggregator services for MSMEs. “We are planning to aggregate financial support, machine requirements, software requirements, logistics requirements and other financial requirements for MSMEs.” 

Tough NSIC had been doing machine selling services for MSMEs till 1990s, it was discontinued due to various reasons. Now the centre would come up with machine selling services to MSMEs online, Udayakumar said. “We will aggregate reliable machine sellers, who would offer competitive prices for MSMEs. NSIC would also add new and special raw materials such as polymers, cobalt, nickel and titanium to its raw material aggregation services. These are immediately doable.” 

Speaking at the inaugural session, consul general of Germany, Chennai, Karin Christina Maria Stoll, said Germany has been encouraging its automotive firms to examine the need for them to be present in India. “In the European Union, Germany is the biggest trading partner of India. Around 1,700 German firms are operating in India. In the last few years, around 120 companies have started operations in India,” she said. 

Deputy managing director of Brakes India Private Limited Sriram Viji, who was the chief guest, said MSMEs should focus on innovation, research and development and talent recognition for sustenance.

Published On : 07-06-2019

Source : Times of India