Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that she was closely monitoring the progress of Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), calling them the growth engine of the country. "We have changed the definition of MSMEs and expanded their scope. Because of this change, more MSMEs have come into the system, and they have benefited from the schemes given by the government," Ms Sitharaman said while addressing the Tech Sparks 2020 event.
"The one scheme that stood out was the Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free loan scheme. Rs 1.93 lakh crore worth of loans have been sanctioned and Rs 1.46 lakh crore have been disbursed," she added.
"I kept giving data to private and public sector banks, which are reaching out to MSMEs. In this, banks will not be the choosers. They will blanket call all customers, send them SMSes; the right to refusal for this will be with customers, and not with banks," she said.
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She also said that she was "equally monitoring" what the MSME ministry was doing to give subordinate debts to company partners of stressed MSMEs.
On May 13, the Finance Minister had announced a slew of initiatives for MSMEs under the government's Rs 20 lakh-crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat stimulus package.
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