MSME Vital for India's 2047 Vision: FM

Udaipur, Aug 22 (PTI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said micro, small and medium industries will play an important role in realising the vision to transform India into a developed nation by 2047.

Therefore, she said, they have been given special priority in the Union Budget.

The finance minister was addressing the discussion programme with MSME marble cluster units in Udaipur on Thursday evening.

"The participation of MSME is important in realising the vision of 2047. Therefore, it has been given expert priority in the budget," she said.

She also informed that dialogue programmes are planned to be conducted with 250 MSME clusters across the country, starting today with the Marble Cluster in Udaipur.

The minister also said it is necessary to discuss with stakeholders to understand the needs of the MSME industry of the Mewar region.

Sitharaman said that Small Industries Development Bank (SIDBI) is now providing loans directly to micro industries, which is a matter of great relief. With this, convenient loans will be easily available to micro industries.

MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said the MSME sector has a major contribution to eliminating unemployment.

"Micro and small industries are the backbone of India's economy, which contributes 30 per cent to the country's economy and provides employment to 20 crore people," he added.

He said that while the rate of global economic progress is 3.2 per cent, India is growing at 7 per cent.

Manjhi said that by paying special attention only to micro industries, the country can be taken to the category of developed countries.

During the programme, an MoU was signed between SIDBI and the Udaipur Marble Association to promote the marble industry in the Udaipur district.

Earlier, Sitharaman visited the SIDBI office on BN College Road in Udaipur.

She also gave loan sanction letters of about five crore rupees to four micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.

Finance Secretary M Nagaraju, SIDBI Chairman Manoj Mittal, Chief General Manager Vivek Malhotra, GM Ashok Pandey, and DGM Abhay Kumar Jain were also present on the occasion.