West Bengal Targets Rs 1.53 Lakh Crore MSME Loans in FY'25

Kolkata, Jun 27 (PTI) The West Bengal government has set a target of providing Rs 1.53 lakh crore as bank loans to the MSME sector in the current fiscal, a rise of 5.5 per cent over the year-earlier figure, officials said.

In the 2023-24 fiscal, the state's MSME sector received Rs 1.45 lakh crore in bank credit, translating to a growth of 14 per cent.

West Bengal is one of the leading states in terms of MSME units, with 21.5 per cent of the country's total such units located in the state.

"There are 89 lakh MSME units in West Bengal, generating employment to 1.36 crore people. Of these, 29 lakh units are owned by women entrepreneurs, which is 32.7 per cent of the total units in the state," said Debashis Bandopadhyay, Special Secretary, MSME Department.

The state has 589 MSME clusters, with 41.77 per cent of those engaged in manufacturing, 25.47 per cent in trading and 21.5 per cent in other sectors, he said at a Bengal Chamber-organised MSME event.

"The amount of bank loans given to MSMEs in the state is on the rise, which is very encouraging. This loan amount is mainly used by the units as working capital and capital expenditure, which helps increase their business and create more employment opportunities in the sector," the official said.

In the last three years, around 1,400 power loom units have been set up in West Bengal, and the state is providing free uniforms to students in all government, government-aided and government-sponsored schools, with a total requirement of 5 crore metres of fabric per year, he said.

Earlier, the entire fabric requirement was met from outside the state, but now the power loom units here are supplying the fabric worth around Rs 500 crore per year, he added.