MSMEs charter growth flight ;WB ranking boost for "Make In India":PM

India has gained by four notches in the word Bank's ranking of Ease of Doing Business. It has moved to revised rank of 134 and 12 places  over the original ranking of 142 last year. The latest ranking puts India at 130  position out of 189 countries.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tweeted that it would provide boost to "Make in India",but Finance Minister Arun Jaitley opines  that the ranking does not fully reflect the slew of reforms taken by the government.   In MSME sector too, a string of reforms have been initiated and if all taken into account, the ranking will improve ,but the goal of being in the first 50 is a distant one but not impossible in a few years time, experts feel quoting recent reforms for MSMEs.    Amid sprouting of a multitude of start-ups, the MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector appears to be on the cusp of sharp growth with the government’s plans aimed at giving a fillip to the sector start unfolding slowly and steadily.   With an eye on the MSMEs potential-contributing eight per cent of the country’s GDP- the Centre has recently announced a slew of schemes for ease of business. India is expected to emerge as one of the leading economies in the world and is poised to outpace 7.3 per growth of last fiscal as per assessment of the Finance Ministry. Much of this growth is expected to come from the MSMEs which is acting as the key driver.   MSMEs at present account for approximately 50% of GDP in the developed countries creating 45% of overall employment. In India, it plays a crucial role in the GDP and employs 106 million people in the workforce. The sector, which accounts for 40 per cent of total exports and 45 per cent of the manufacturing output, has 361.76 lakh enterprises and out of which 15.64 lakh are registered. Steps have been initiated to simplify business inter-alia Aadhaar Udyog Memorandum for registration of MSMEs, framework for revival and rehabilitation of MSMEs and PM Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) scheme.   Though several industrialists running the enterprises have aired their concerns on handicaps in way of fast growth of the MSMEs, Minister of MSME Kalraj Mishra exudes confidence that the sector would clock a steep growth. The Government has got “very good response” with the recently launched simplified Aadhaar-based registration system for MSME sector. Within a short period 800, registrations have been received under the scheme.   PMEGP employment of about 118,196 people have been generated during 2015-16 and Mr Mishra laced his optimism with spike in Khadi sales and gradual restoration of its popularity. The Khadi and Village industries has hit record growth of 17.55 % during last one year –October 2014-15.   Under the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) for registration of MSMES, the ministry has notified a simple one page registration form last month drafted after consultations with states and stakeholders. The form, “Udyog Aadhaar” was made after consultations with the states and stakeholders. Its salient features are single page online Registration-Mobile friendly; self-certification; more than one Udyog Aadhaar; No documents required and No fees.   Likewise the framework for revival and rehabilitation of MSMES has been notified under MSMED Act, 2006. Many entrepreneurs long for drastic change in MSMED Act in the wake of fast changing ground business realities. The Cabinet in its meeting on March 25 this year had approved the Ministry’s proposal for introduction of the legislation, namely MSME Amendment Bill, 2015 to amend the 2006 MSME Development Act 2006. The announced framework provides a mechanism for revival and rehabilitation with a definite voice to the entrepreneurs and is expected to balance the interests of debtors and creditors. The framework enables Banks/creditors to identify MSMEs which are in the stage of incipient stress and take corrective action to prevent them from becoming NPAs.   MSMEs can seek revival and rehabilitation benefit through a committee constituted by banks with representative from state Governments, experts and others. Likewise, the PMEGP, Mr Mishra said, has received enthusiastic response from the unemployed youth. Since inception in 2008-09 and been able to provide employment opportunities to 28.88 lakh persons through setting up 3.37 lakh enterprises and with margin money subsidy of Rs.6712.97 crore. As per official statistics, there is substantial improvement (10 times) in the performance of PMEGP during 2015-16 compared to year 2013-14.  The ministry has opened interactive interfaces on Facebook and Twitter with the objective of disseminating information relating to programmes, schemes and to connect with public at large.Under the Skill development Mission, the Ministry has been providing training to eight to nine lakh persons per year to enable them to create new enterprises or become job ready for industry.