Closely monitoring progress of MSMEs: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Oct 28, 2020
New Delhi [India], October 28 : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that she was closely monitoring the progress of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), whom she called as the growth engine of the country.
Addressing the Tech Sparks 2020, Sitharaman said, "We have changed the definition of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and expanded the scope of MSMEs. Because of this change, more MSMEs have come into the system, and they've benefited from the schemes given by the government."
"The one scheme that stood out was the Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free loan scheme. Rs 1.93 lakh crore worth of loans have been sanctioned and Rs 1.46 lakh crore have been disbursed," she added.
The Union Finance Minister said she was "closely monitoring' progress of MSMEs.
"I kept giving data to private and public sector banks, which are reaching out to MSMEs. In this, banks will not be the choosers. They will blanket call all customers, send them SMSs; the right to refusal for this will be with customers, and not with banks," she said.
She also said that she was 'equally monitoring' what the MSME ministry was doing to give subordinate debts to company partners of stressed MSMEs.
On May 13, the Finance Minister Sitharaman announced a slew of initiatives for MSMEs under the Rs 20 lakh crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat stimulus package.
