Our Correspondent
Kohima | March 10
MLA Jwenga Seb maintained that MSMEs are the engines of grassroots economic activity, defined by investment and turnover thresholds under the MSME Development Act of 2006. MSME is not merely an economic agenda, he said adding “It is the central question of our state’s self-respect, future, and journey from dependency to self-reliance.”
“We are a state rich in natural resources-lush forests with medicinal herbs, abundant bamboo, fertile land-and even richer in human capital. Our professionals, engineers, doctors, and scientists are second to none. Yet, we stand as a tragic irony. We lack manufacturing firms. As has been painfully noted, from toothbrushes and matchsticks to toothpicks, almost every daily essential is imported. We see no significant innovative ventures or patents stemming from our own soil,” Seb said at the ongoing 8th session of 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly in Kohima on March 10.
He maintained that MSMEs can transform agricultural produce into packaged organic foods and beverages, Herbal wealth into a branded wellness and pharmaceutical industry, Bamboo and wood into engineered materials, furniture, and designer goods, artisanal heritage into a global handicraft and handloom brand.
Touching on infrastructure and market access deficit, he said, “Beyond finance, our entrepreneurs struggle with unreliable power, poor digital and physical connectivity, and a lack of organised market access. Without roads to transport goods and internet to sell them, even the best enterprise will falter.”
Stressing on the need to tackle finance innovatively, he said, “We need to design a “Nagaland MSME Credit Instrument” in partnership with NABARD and SIDBI. This could use community guarantees, warehouse receipts for agricultural produce, or future cash flow pledges as collateral alternatives, fully leveraging but adapting the national CGTMSE framework to our context.”
Touching on building bridges to the market, he opined that a state-led “Made in Nagaland” campaign, aggressively utilizing the Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme and partnering with e-marketplaces, is essential.
We must also mandate and facilitate the use of the Public Procurement Policy to source from local MSMEs, he said.
Stating that the critical role of MSMEs for Nagaland is existential, he said “It is the pathway from being a consumer state to a producer state; from importing toothpicks to exporting patented bamboo designs; from revenue deficit to revenue generation.”
“Let us commit to making Nagaland a model where MSMEs truly become the backbone, not just of our economy, but of our renewed Naga aspiration for dignity, self-reliance, and prosperity,” Seb said.
