To promote the small scale industries, the State of Uttarakhand is finalizing the public procurement policy to provide performance in purchase as well as price from this sector” said Dr Ranbir singh, Principal Secretary, Small Scale Industries, Government of Uttarakhand while addressing the ASSOCHAM 7th SME Sammelan “Banking & Finance Solutions for Sustainable Growth” in Dehradun on Thursday. Dr Singh said, first time the state has established a separate department for SMEs and made a separate law to safe guard the interest of the this sector.
Responding to the query of ASSOCHAM chairman of SMEs council PK Jain, who raised issue of non availability of credit, Dr Singh said the state has taken cognizance on it and raised the matter before the union finance ministry and with the banks as well.
Now banks are willing to provide easy credit to the SMEs sector if they assure viability of the unit.
ASSOCHAM Secretary General DS Rawat said that due to non availability of credit more than 25% SMEs have closed down and nearly 20% have reached on the verge of closure.
He suggested that State government should setup a special cell led by the Chief Minister or chief Secretary to help this sector because it provides jobs to 2.5 lakh skilled and unskilled people. He also suggested that the state should immediately setup 10 e-clusters for auto and auto parts, food processing, herbals, garments and handicrafts.
He also offered ASSOCHAM expertise and announced that they will help state to develop e-clusters on public-private-partnership (PPP). The state should only provide the land and conectivity. Each cluster will house more than 200 units and provide jobs to more than 1.5 lakhs people directly or indirectly.
Jain said, MSMEs hold enormous opportunities for growing faster provided they are facilitated with sustainable finance, latest technology, Governmental support and suitable marketing strategies including the branding of their products. Despite all this SMEs have been lagging behind because of lack of financial assistance .
The scenario is changing since financial institutions have been focusing towards the sector. There are customized loans available for the SMEs considering their specific requirements. Banks have set up the dedicated cells & branches to cater the needs of this segment.SMEs should go to these institutions rather than going to a non-institutional money lender.