The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed exclusive industrial estates for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the state.
“Availability of land is a major issue for the MSME units. So, we are planning to create a land bank or industrial estates, and develop infrastructure for the units,” said R Karikal Valavan, commissioner of industries.
According to him, there are 83 revenue zones in the state and they are proposing to develop one industrial estate for each division. Each estate will come up on at least 100 acre. The respective district collectors are yet to identify the land, he said.
Andra Pradesh has around 174,000 MSME units, which is more than 95 per cent of the total industries, and 4,800 large industries. In 2010-11, exports from AP stood at Rs 93,000 crore, of which the MSME sector accounted for 43 per cent.
According to the fourth MSME census by the state, 10 per cent of the MSME units have closed down in recent years. The MSME sector faces many problems, including lack of credit on time, inadequate infrastructure and lack of proper incentives, he said.
To overcome this, the state has taken up various initiatives and plans to set up industrial clinics in each industrial estate.
The main purpose of the industrial clinics are to identify the areas of sickness at early stage including financial problems, and support them in technology and quality upgradation, Valavan said addressing the gathering at a seminar on finance availability for MSMEs organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Availability of timely and adequate finance (credit) is the key factor for growth, development and sustainability of the MSME units. Seeing the current credit crunch in the sector, the CII has proposed a separate credit rating system for the MSME units, said Ramesh Datla, chairman, CII national MSME council.
The CII has identified the priorities sectors and is in discussion with the Reserve Bank of India to develop a better credit mechanism, Datla added.
