West Bengal industry minister Amit Mitra today urged the banking sector to extend more advances to the MSME sector.
"The banking sector should increase the extent of assistance to the MSME sector in the state," Mitra said at the inauguration of SBI's specialised branch for small and medium sector.
He claimed during FY12-13, the MSME sector had got advances to the tune of Rs 4200 crore, while the amount jumped to Rs 8200 crore in the first half of FY13-14, a rise of more than 100 per cent.
"The banks should increase this by 150 per cent for the full FY13-14 fiscal," he said.This would help the MSME to engage themselves in the financial inclusion process, the minister said.
Mitra said 92 per cent of the manufacturing sector in the country was unorganised, out of which a big chunk was MSMEs.
