Government exploring new financial lending institutions to support small-scale units, says Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that the government is exploring new financial lending institutions to support small-scale units in terms of financial support.

He said that government is working towards strengthening the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), which will help small businesses to avail easy credit in the coming time. Addressing the members of Calcutta Chamber of Commerce on the impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs through video conference, Mr Gadkari requested all the stakeholders to work in tandem and urged the industry to maintain a positive attitude during this time to tide over this crisis.

Referring to the special economic package, he said various support measures have been announced for MSMEs such as collateral-free automatic loan and distress fund. He said that all these measures will provide the required support to MSMEs to face the current economic challenges.

The Minister mentioned that a special focus towards export enhancement is the need of the hour. He further added that there is a need to reduce the cost of production and logistics to become economically viable. He said that the current contribution of MSMEs in export is 48 per cent, which may be increased to 60 per cent.

The Minister also informed them that there has been restructuring of 6 lakh MSMEs till March 2020 and the ministry is aiming to cover an additional 25 lakh until December 2020.

The minister shared that the MSME Ministry is working on two booklets to cover details about the last three year's export and import.