MSME amendment bill to be tabled this session

The bill amending the Micro Small & Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 is likely to be introduced in the current session of parliament. The bill will change the definitions of the MSMEs by raising the capital limits in plant and machinery.

“The bill will be introduced in the current session of parliament. The ministry has proposed to double it (the investment limit)”, Madhav Lal, secretary, Union ministry of MSME told media persons on the sidelines of a workshop on ‘Make In India: Role of MSME’, organized by World Trade Centre here.

The amendment bill suggests doubling the capital ceiling for micro enterprises from Rs 25 lakh at present to Rs 50 lakh. Similarly, for small enterprises, it proposes to hike the limit from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore. The bill suggests tripling the capital ceiling for medium enterprises from Rs 10 crore to Rs 30 crore.

For services sector units, the proposal entails doubling the investment limit in plant and machinery from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for micro enterprises. For small enterprises, it is proposed to be raised from Rs two crore to Rs five crore; whereas for medium enterprises the proposed increase is from the present Rs five crore to Rs 15 crore.

On the achievement of recommendations of Prime Minister’s Task Force on Micro Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs), he said there is year on year growth of 24 per cent in credit to micro and small enterprises and annual growth in number of micro enterprise accounts is also met

The Prime Minister’s Task Force on MSMEs recommends that the banks must achieve 20 per cent year-on-year growth in credit to micro and small enterprises and a 10 per cent annual growth in number of micro enterprise accounts.

For all round development of the MSME sector, four committees headed by additional chief secretaries (ACS) have been formed. While the ACS ( finance) will head the committee on finance and tax reforms , development commissioner will lead the environment and labor law, ACS (revenue & disaster management) will look into the infrastructure needs of the MSMEs and ACS to Chief Minister will head the committee on setting up a business, enforcing contracts and existing business”, said Panchan Dash, secretary , MSME department.

Ravindra Nath, Chairman & Managing Director, National Small Industries Corporation mentioned that 31 banks, with whom the NSIC has entered into agreements for providing credit to MSME units, have sanctioned over Rs 350 crore loan in the last financial year.

Chief secretary GC Pati said, industry and MSME  departments are on the job to make the single window system a real ‘one stop service center’ for MS&MEs  and the government is simplifying existing norms and procedures to lessen the regulatory burdens on the MSMEs. Pati stressed that consortiums and clusters will make MSMEs globally competitive.

Mentioning that Odisha can become a hub for defence, food and textile sectors, Vijay Kalantri, vice chairman- World Trade Centre , Bhubaneswar suggested that dedicated task forces may be set up to examine various issues concerning the growth of these sectors.