In percentage terms, the sourcing of goods and services from the MSEs is 25 per cent of the total annual procurement of Rs 1,286 crore fixed by Nalco for the current fiscal. The annual purchase value excludes steel, cement, coal and fuel. The MSEs from which the other items will be sourced includes the units owned by SC /ST entrepreneurs, who will be supplying the company Rs 1 crore worth of goods and services in the current fiscal. Such units will account for 0.08 per cent of the total procurement. In 2014-15, the central PSU had purchased goods and services worth Rs 350 crore from MSEs. It also intends to conduct 10 vendor development programmes for MSEs in the current fiscal. The target set by the aluminum major is in line with the Public Procurement Policy-2012 of the Centre, which mandates that all central ministries/PSUs should procure minimum 20 per cent of their total annual purchases of the products or services from MSEs.
According to the policy, every central ministry/PSUs will set an annual goal for procurement from the MSE sector at the beginning of the year with the objective of achieving an overall procurement goal of minimum 20 per cent of the total annual purchases of the products or services produced or rendered by MSEs in a period of three years. At the end of three years, the overall procurement goal of minimum 20 per cent will be made mandatory. The policy is aimed to promote MSEs by improving their market access and competitiveness through increased participation by MSEs in government purchases and encouraging linkages between MSEs and large enterprises.