The Union minister also said that the awareness and affordability of information and communication technology among MSMEs is relatively low. The government is committed to provide all possible support to promote and encourage the MSMEs in the country, said Mr Mishra while inaugurating a seminar on 'Empowering MSMEs for Sustainability,' organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
He also said that government has been striving to provide a sustainable platform to MSMEs to grow and develop in terms of productivity, better availability to finance, wider product range, world class marketing strategies and international competiveness. MSMEs hold enormous opportunities for growing faster provided they are facilitated with sustainable finance, latest technology and sustainable marketing strategies including the branding of their products.
The MSME segment will play a key role in domestic manufacturing in the coming days and will lead the 'Make in India' programme, turning it into a success, informed the Union Minister. Government would be coming up with quality up gradation schemes for the MSME sector so that these products were able to compete and be preferred over those countries like China which are flooding the market. So, emphasize should be on 'zero-defect' in production by the MSMEs so that the products can compete in global market.
Ministry is also taking initiatives to ensure credit availability to the sector while upgrading the technology to increase the standards of products, adding that there is a need to make the sector attractive for capital investment to strengthen existing enterprises said Mr Mishra.
He further said that there are customized loans available for the MSMEs considering their specific requirements. MSMEs should avail theses facilities rather than going to a non-institutional money lender. MSMEs should also avail the facility of credit rating to scale up the financial competitiveness and credit worthiness. Therefore, it is important that MSMEs should get the credit rating from the 'reliable and trust worthy' credit rating agencies.
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Availability of funds at high cost is another area of concern of this sector. It is paradoxical that despite the government's push and concessions for the sector, funds available to MSMEs are quoted much higher rates as compared to those for large corporate & therefore, this gap should be reduced, informed the Union MSME Minister.
However, good credit rating from an external credit rating agency is a tool to reduce the rate of interest to some extent. The MSMEs with a higher credit rating are in a better position to negotiate softer rates of interest from bankers, said Mr Mishra.
He also said, Branding is also one of the aspects which should be given ample importance by the small entrepreneurs. SMEs need to understand that brand building is a necessity, not a luxury. Marketing and branding are two concepts that no firm can afford to ignore.
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