Uttarakhand finalises new policy for MSMEs

The draft is aimed to give boost to small units

A three-member committee headed by Uttarakhand medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME) Minister Harish Chandra Durgapal on Tuesday finalised the draft of the new MSME policy to give boost to small units, offering a series of sops to over 40,000 such enterprises in the state and attracting new ones.

The draft was finalised following a meeting of the committee at the Vidhan Sabha here after incorporating suggestions from various chambers of business. "The draft of the new MSME policy has been finalised and it will be sent to the Cabinet for final approval," said a senior government official.

Under the new policy, the government will focus on preparing a land bank for MSMEs and provide land to them for setting up units at reasonable prices, the official told Business Standard.

Significantly, the government is bringing the new MSME policy at a time when a similar policy under the hill promotion policy-2008 that offers attractive incentives for MSMEs is already in place. Despite the huge success of the hill promotion policy in the first few years, the government thinks that the credit of the hill development policy would go to the BJP.

On the other hand, the incentives under the new MSME policy are going to be similar to that of the hill promotion policy. However, the hallmark of the new policy will be the implementation of the single window system, which came into force this year. "All the clearances will be given under the single window system," said S C Nautiyal, additional director of MSME department.

When the MSME department was set up last year, the government was hesitant in bringing a new MSME policy. But later, it was decided that such a policy would be beneficial to the state especially after the last year's June deluge that dealt a serious blow to the state's economy.