Budget Proposals to Give Major Push to MSMEs, Create Jobs: Industry Body

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Friday said Budget proposals are likely to provide a major impetus to development of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector and create jobs.

"The Finance Minister has duly recognized that SMEs form the backbone of the country's industrial output and employment and rightly underscored the importance of promoting entrepreneurship and start-up enterprises," CII National MSME Council co-chairman T T Ashok said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday unveiled a slew of measures to revitalise the micro, small and medium enterprises sector, laying special thrust on promotion of start-ups. Presenting the Budget 2014-15 in Parliament, he said a Rs 10,000 crore venture capital fund will be set up for the sector.

"The focus of Budget on providing infrastructural support like power and land for the MSMEs under various schemes in rural India, is going to spur the growth of the sector, create a large number of jobs and revive the economy," Mr Ashok added.

"CII welcomes the proposal to set up a Rs 10,000 crore fund that will act as a catalyst to private capital by way quasi-equity, soft loan, and other risk capital for start-up companies," the chamber said.

Mr Jaitley also announced that the definition of MSME will be reviewed to provide for a higher capital ceiling.

"The decision to revisit definition of MSME by providing for a higher capital ceiling was most awaited which has been our recommendation for the last five years," the industry body said.

A programme to facilitate forward and backward linkages with multiple value chain of manufacturing and service delivery will be put in place, Mr Jaitley said on Thursday.

Moreover, the Finance Minister said an entrepreneur-friendly legal bankruptcy framework will be developed for SMEs to enable easy exit.

Besides, he said, a nationwide "District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme" would be taken up for incubation of new ideas and providing necessary support for accelerating entrepreneurship.

"The proposal of the Finance Minister to set up a trade facilitation centre and a craft centre and a museum with an outlay of Rs 50 crore to develop and promote handloom products is a welcome step for the development of the micro enterprises in India and is going to help them showcase at a global scale," Ashok said.

"Setting up of a committee to examine the financial architecture for MSME Sector, remove bottlenecks and create new rules and structures and give concrete suggestions in three months is a step forward to address financing problem of MSMEs," he added.

Moreover, he said the amendment of the Apprenticeship Act will encourage MSMEs to avail of the benefits under the scheme and help in getting skilled manpower for the sector.