 "PM Narendra Modi addresses during the release of party's election manifesto ‘Sankalp Patra’ for the Lok Sabha polls. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP National President JP Nadda are also seen (PTI Photo)")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday promised to double the Mudra loan ceiling to Rs 20 lakh, further expand the coverage of PM-SVANidhi to villages and reduce the compliance burden on micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) was launched in 2015 to facilitate collateral-free micro credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro entrepreneurs for generating income. Under the PM Mudra Yojana, over 460 million loans worth Rs 27 trillion have been given so far.
“In past years, Mudra Yojana has turned crores of people into entrepreneurs... Looking at this success, BJP has taken one more ‘sankalp’. Under the Mudra Yojana, loans up to Rs 10 lakh were provided. Now, the BJP has decided to increase the limit to Rs 20 lakh. I am confident this will be used as a new strength towards building the ecosystem required for industry 4.0,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while launching BJP’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Sunday.
“The country is experiencing a demographic dividend, which entails generating employment. Jobs in the government sector cannot grow exponentially. The private sector, driven by the motive of maximising profit, will increasingly adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning. It cannot be expected to create 10 million jobs every year for the next 25 years. Self employment is the only recourse,” said Charan Singh, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder director, EGROW Foundation, a think tank.
The BJP has also promised to simplify the goods and services tax (GST) portal to increase accessibility for users, especially MSMEs and small traders.
Watch: BJP Manifesto, key promises and initiatives
Watch: BJP Manifesto, key promises and initiatives
“We will launch affordable insurance products for small traders and MSMEs to protect them from accidents like fire, theft and natural disasters,” the manifesto added.
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BJP has further promised that it will encourage small traders and MSMEs to adopt Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and expand their businesses using technology.
“We will create a suite of public cybersecurity products to help small traders and MSMEs protect themselves against cyber threats and frauds,” it added.
The ruling party will also reduce compliances for small traders and MSMEs to enhance their ease of living and ease of doing business.
“We will work with state governments and encourage them to simplify legislations,” said the BJP manifesto.
According to data shared by the government, India currently has more than 630 million enterprises in the MSME sector.
The manifesto also added that the government has given credit under PM-SVANidhi to 6.3 million street vendors.
“We will continue to further expand PM-SVANidhi to cover street vendors and travelling salesmen, among others, from small towns and villages across Bharat,” said the manifesto.
PM-SVANidhi was launched during Covid (June 1, 2020) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide collateral-free loans of up to Rs 50,000 to eligible street vendors.
