Union Budget has outlined steps to boost MSMEs: Dalit trade body

Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) founder Milind Kamble on Monday said amid the coronavirus pandemic, it was necessary to encourage employment in the country and the Centre has tried to do the same in the Union Budget for 2022-23 which has outlined various steps for the MSME sector.

To encourage entrepreneurship among Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Centre has launched the Dr Ambedkar Young Entrepreneur League 2022, he said while talking to reporters here. "The central government has launched the Ambedkar Young Entrepreneur League, a competition under Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM) of the social justice department, under which it will fund 1,000 business ideas in the country," he said. The national-level competition will take place in three phases in partnership with premier institutes, Kamble said. Under the AYE League, business ideas have been invited online till February 15 and they will be scrutinised by experts from eight IITs and two IIMs, he said. The final round under the competition will take place in Delhi where funds under the first phase will be provided to selected ideas to make prototypes, the DICCI founder said. Talking about the Union Budget, Kamble said it has various positive steps for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). "Amid the pandemic, it was necessary to encourage employment in the country. The government has tried to do it (in the budget). Along with that, the government has also increased spending and initiated steps for the MSME sector," he added. The Pune-based DICCI was established in 2005 to instill the spirit of entrepreneurship among Dalit youth to develop business leadership. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman listed a slew of steps for the MSME sector while presenting the budget in Parliament last week. The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) that provided much needed additional credit to over 1.3 crore MSMEs will be extended till March 2023 with its guarantee cover expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore, Sitharaman said.

She said the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme will be revamped with required infusion of funds.

To help the MSME sector become more resilient, competitive and efficient, Sitharaman said a Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme will be rolled out with a Rs 6,000 crore outlay spread over 5 years.