‘MSME promotes distributive growth’
Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 8
Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 8
Who do you go to if you have a business plan? How does one convert the peculiarities of the local market into an advantage for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector? The Rural Planning and Credit Department of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Guwahati, held a Town Hall meeting at the Ana Ki conference hall here to address these and other issues faced by the MSME sector in Nagaland.
Second of its kind held in the North East, ‘Town Hall meetings’ have been formulated by the RBI to bring all stakeholders of the MSME sector together to meet, listen to each other, understand problems and find solutions to them, explained Regional Director, RBI Guwahati, S.S. Barik in his keynote address. Nagaland has potential, he said, but the push needed for the industries/MSME sector to grow is missing. “That is why the RBI is emphasizing on MSME as it promotes distributive growth,” Barik informed.
According to the Government of India’s Ministry of MSME, MSMEs currently contribute nearly 8 percent of the country’s GDP, 45 percent of the manufacturing output and 40 percent of the exports. They provide the largest share of employment after agriculture.
The role of banks in credit lending is central to small entrepreneurs. “We request entrepreneurs to approach banks (for loans) instead of non-institutionalised informal sources (like relatives, friends or moneylenders),” said Barik, which, according to him, can be expensive and exploitative due to their application of high and uncontrolled rates of interest. “The RBI is behind bankers and entrepreneurs and will try to see that more and more credit is diverted to MSME sector so it progresses in the North East,” encouraged the regional director.
This was probably well received by representatives from the Government of Nagaland who felt that the young entrepreneurs of Nagaland need to be guided on policies, schemes and facilities available to them to take their business, and the State’s economy, forward.
The meeting saw issues highlighted by D. Sethy, GM, RPCD, RBI Guwahati, A.K. Chaudhary, DGM, SBI, V. Chelladurai, GM, NABARD, Rahul Rohatgi, GM, SIDBI, Temsulong Jamir, Jt. Director, Directorate of Industries, Government of Nagaland, N. Hushili Sema, DC Dimapur, Pintun Sutar, DGM, RBI Guwahati, and various entrepreneurs from Nagaland. The meeting later focused on the report of survey on 25 SME units carried out by RBI in Dimapur, and produced data on challenges and opportunities faced by MSME entrepreneurs in Nagaland, who also brought forth their perspectives to stakeholders present.
