Tax sops galore for MSMEs in Raj

JAIPUR: The micro, small, and medium sector that dominates the industrial landscape of Rajasthan got a shot in the arm as the state government unveiled a new policy at the concluding day of the Resurgent Rajasthan offering several financial and other benefits.
Unveiling the policy in the presence of chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Union minister for micro, small, and medium industries Kalraj Mishra said his ministry will help the state government set up incubation centres at all the district headquarters.He was responding to the request made by Raje earlier.
The chief minister had sought help from the Union ministry for setting up incubation centres for startups in all the seven divisions of the state. Keeping in view the industrial landscape of the state where 90% of the industry is in the MSME sector, Mishra has also assured that all the schemes of the ministry will be extended to Rajasthan.
Stating that the MSME sector is the only future for the industry in the state and the country, Raje said, "Our MSMEs provide support base, supply base, and employment base. We have to hand hold the micro enterprises to become small, the small to become medium and the medium to become big."
Raje, who was the first MSME minister at the Centre during the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, said the state government will organise an MSME Diwas every year to mark the importance of the sector.
The sector today provides employment to 68 million people and creates 1.3 million jobs every year producing more than 8000 products. "At one point of time big was better, but now small is the new big," she added.
She drew attention to the difficulties faced by the MSME sector in getting bank credit and highlighted the views of SBBJ managing director Jyoti Ghosh.
Earlier in the day, Ghosh in his speech had said that bank lending to MSME sector constitute only about 18% of the total lending with 82% going to big industries. He also highlighted that about 78% of the MSMEs are either self-financed or get finance from informal sources while out of the rest 22%, only 85% could have access to bank credit.
Raje said the cumulative non-performing assets of the banking sector is in excess of Rs 9 lakh core and there is one company that accounts for NPA of Rs 1.6 lakh core whereas the total bad assets of the MSME sector is only Rs 40,000 crore.
MSMEs often face challenges in accessing new markets to expand their operation. Today, internet is playing a revolutionary role making e-commerce the future of buying and selling. Dinesh Agarwal, founder & CEO, IndiaMART, who was on the panel said, "Though, only 26% of MSMEs are internet addressable at present, I expect nearly 25 million of them to get online by 2018. Programs like 'Make in India' can succeed only if these small businesses, that are the backbone of our economy, get wider access to markets using e-commerce platforms."
While general exports are witnessing a prolonged period of slowdown in the country, handicrafts sector is growing at about 15%. Dileep Baid of Dileep industries told the jam packed audience that it is right time to invest in the sector and take advantages of the policy.