We will soon unveil a visionary MSME policy: Kalraj Mishra

Interview with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Minister Kalraj Mishra tells Aditi Phadnis that a moribund ministry has now got off the ground. Edited excerpts:

You've spent two years in office. What have you got to show for it?

In general, our government has done spectacularly well. Just go back a few years and you will recall all the scams - 2G spectrum, coal block allocation... Our government, on the other hand, has provided clean, transparent governance. Coal blocks and telecom spectrum have been allocated with complete transparency. Do you hear phrases like Radia tapes, de facto and de jure power centres, which pointed to a weak, motivation-less and visionless United Progressive Alliance regime? Nobody can dispute that a regime of personal gain and loot of public resources was replaced by one run on the strength of integrity and values, following the 2014 general elections.

What have you achieved in your area of responsibility?

This a valid question. There are around 40 million MSMEs in India employing around 100 million people. Our share in manufacturing output is around 45 per cent and in mercantile exports 40 per cent. Our share in gross domestic product is eight per cent in manufacturing and 30 per cent in services, so the total share stands at 38 per cent. After agriculture, our sector is the largest employer of Indians. MSME is the future job creator and provider.

In the past two years, we observed this sector closely and identified interventions necessary to unleash its real potential. For starters, registration of an MSME is imperative if an entrepreneur wants to access schemes and government benefits. We noticed that registration of MSMEs was a cumbersome process with lots of bureaucratic hurdles. We designed a simple, elegant, user -friendly and internet-based registration process and named it Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM).

Now, one can register a unit by filling a short online form and get registration within 10 minutes. Registration does not entail any visit to any office. In the past eight months, more than 700,000 MSMEs have registered on this platform.

If your ministry is the second-largest provider of jobs, how have you fared in terms of jobs creation?

The Prime Minister's Employment Guarantee Programme (PMEGP) is our flagship scheme. It accounts for one third of the expenditure of our ministry. We nurture around 45,000 micro-level entrepreneurs around the country through this programme and generate employment for around 335,000 people. Through constant monitoring and review, we ensured the release of Rs 1,254.79 crore of margin money for this programme in 2015-16; it was just Rs 988.36 crore in 2013-14. This scheme is a launch pad for entrepreneurs who dream big.

Last year, we launched ASPIRE (A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Agro-based Industry). It takes care of the skill needs of different sections of society. We have Livelihood Business Incubators (LBI) to train the youth to set up small businesses, which can be integrated into the local economy to meet one's livelihood needs. We have Technology Business Incubators (TBI) to meet the skill needs of more ambitious individuals. We realised that if we cannot fund the innovative ideas of young visionary minds, this exercise is futile. So we have come up with ASPIRE Fund of Funds (FoF). The Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) manages this FoF for us. We have placed Rs 60 crore with Sidbi and finalised how it should run. We have sanctioned 22 LBIs and two TBIs; six LBIs have already started functioning.

The failure of MSMEs is usually in getting access to competitive, appropriate and intelligent technology…

True, MSMEs need modern technology. We have 18 state-of-the-art tool rooms across the country to meet the technological needs of this sector. All our tool rooms are profit-making ventures. In these tool rooms we have trained 180,160 pupils in entrepreneurship and assisted 36,156 units directly to enhance productivity and efficiency in 2016. In 2013-14 these figures were 120,340 and 28,861 respectively. The figures speak for themselves.

What about training? After all, one can't go straight from the tool room to start his/her own business….

We have started a placement service, which has shown good results. With assistance from the World Bank, we will create 15 more tool rooms worth Rs 2,200 crore. As this financial year ends, the construction of at least nine out of 15 tool rooms will have reached an advanced stage. So we should be able to serve catchment MSMEs in the next fiscal year.

Suppose, I have struggled and set up an MSME using the facilities the government has provided. But if nobody buys what I produce, I am still going to starve….

Public procurement is one area where micro and small enterprises (MSE) can find a big window to sell their products. Under the Public Procurement Order, every central public sector unit has to necessarily buy 20 per cent share of its procurement from MSEs; 20 per cent of this, that is four per cent of the total procurement, should be bought from Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs.

We have started rigorous monitoring to ensure that MSEs get their due share in public procurement. We have made it clear that buyers can relax prior turnover and experience conditions to enable MSEs to participate in public procurement tenders. The 20 per cent public procurement clause became mandatory from April 1, 2015. I am also reviewing it at my level. I am determined to provide MSEs their due share in public procurement from central public sector undertakings and other central government entities.

What about non-performing assets in the MSME sector?

We have come up with a plan to revive and rehabilitate sick industries. We are working on an ambitious and visionary MSME policy, which will be unveiled soon.

Your area of political work is Uttar Pradesh. How do you rate the Bharatiya Janata Party's prospects in the state's Assembly elections next year?

I cannot be a hypocrite. Both the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) and the SP (Samajwadi Party) are worthy opponents and they have their strengths. But neither am I a defeatist. The Assam election results have been a morale booster for our workers. The prime minister's image is sky-high. Our government has done excellent work. If we are able to rise at the organisational level - and I am sure we will - we can form the government in Uttar Pradesh.