Tobu Cycles Group Chairman Rajnish Goenka met with Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Friday to discuss investment opportunities in the State. He said after meeting that the State possessed exceptional potential in the field of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, where the Group was eyeing to make investments and to help start-ups as well in a big way.
“Jharkhand is among few states where there is a huge opportunity for MSME sector to flourish and start-ups can do wonders here, especially in the fields of mining and minerals industry which is Jharkhand known for. I am here not only to make some investments, but also to help start-ups grow and help the State grow manifold,” said Goenka on Friday. Though he didn’t divulge amount of investment to be made in Jharkhand, he said that he was open to investment in right opportunities.
With interests in diversified businesses like real estate, metal scraps, advertising, events, printing and packaging also apart from famous bicycle brand, Goenka floated MSME Development Forum in June 2014 to venture into helping and nurturing start-ups in form of venture capitalist, primarily. This non-overnment and non-profit organisation under Chairmanship of Goenka has helped union government a lot in terms of deciding policies for MSME sector so far.
Goenka cited example of mica mining in Koderma, where, according to his estimates, some 5 lakh people were employed in somewhat illegal mining and collection of small size mica. “If properly regularised by the State Government, we have the potential to create thousands of entrepreneurs in the area with the help of merely advisory support and almost no additional investment. I have shared my views on this with the CM, who has assured to come up with guidelines for mica mining as early as possible,” said Goenka, where Jharkhand Unit President of MSME Development Forum Shishir Poddar was also present.
“If you ask me how many start-ups the MSME Development Forum has nurtured so far, my answer will be umpteenth number of them. It is ironical that the sector which employs some 80 percent of the industrial work-force in the country doesn’t have its say in policy making effectively for the sector. And we have been filling this gap for over last two years. We have suggested and forced the Government to come up with a number of policies for this sector which has helped young start-ups to grow and flourish,” claimed Goenka.
Proudly claiming that the union government picked up one of the missions of MSME Development Forum of ‘Transforming Job Seekers to Job Creators’ its aggressive campaign called Start-Up India, Goenka said that the Forum was also creating agripreneurs for rural transformation and working for upliftment of youth, women, SC/ST/OBCs and dalits. “We are organising 3rd India International MSME Expo and Summit on August 11-13 this year where all the aspects of encouraging MSME and entrepreneurs will remain in focus with Jharkhand a key potential State to partner in it,” said Goenka.
Goenka, also national convener of Micro and Small Industries Cell of BJP, said that the country was going through unprecedented transformation in the field of MSMEs under guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “MSME used to be backbone of the country. But decades of misguided policies paralysed the sector. Now that the Government is there to help it out, we will try our best through the Forum to make India a country of Entrepreneurs,” said Goenka.
