NEW DELHI: Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country must understand the needs of the foreign market and design their products accordingly to be able to increase the sector’s share in India's exports to around 60%, union minister of MSMEs Nitin Gadkari said.

Currently, MSME’s contribute around 49% to the country’s exports.

"We have a target that at least 60% of our export from MSME," Gadkari said at the inauguration of the 39th Indian International Trade Fair here on Thursday.

Gadkari said that entrepreneurs must identify resources in each state of the country and exploit their potential in accordance with the preference of foreign markets.

“We need interaction with different countries to understand what they want, on the basis of that we need to accelerate our manufacturing activity,” Gadkari said.

For MSMEs to be able to sell in the international market, it is essential that the cost of production—largely linked with costs of power, logistics and capital— comes down, Gadkari said.

Gadkari said that the government is constantly working to facilitate this reduction in cost of production in the country.

The government is also planning to start new technology and training centres in the country for skilled manpower, which is essential for achieving quality in production.

“Without quality production, it is very difficult to get international market,” Gadkari said.

Pointing out the urban-rural divide in the country, Gadkari said that the government wants to identify production capacities in particularly rural and tribal areas, to be able to create employment in these areas.

Gadkari said that while there are ‘problems’ in the economy, the government is trying its best to make credit easily available to MSMEs in the country.

Multilateral institutions like the World Bank and ADB have agreed to extend line of credit to the sector, Gadkari said.

“We want to transfer this credit line to the poor and economically backward entrepreneurs which can help them grow their industry,” Gadkari said.

Published On : 15-11-2019

Source : Economic Times