In order to boost the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked industry chambers and associations to come up with innovative solutions to address problems of the MSME sector and provide inputs for policy formulation.
Manmohan Singh stressed that the MSME sector is vital to the national economy and participation of the private sector and civil society is needed to make government's initiatives for the success of the sector. Prime Minister expressed the need to address constraints that still hinder the development of the MSME sector adding that only a fraction of enterprises in India has the skills, risk appetite and resources to avail of the opportunities offered by globalisation. Further, Manmohan Singh added that the government has taken several steps for the development of the MSME sector including the MSME Development Act, 2006, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme and setting up a six-member inter-ministerial panel which will suggest measures to boost the MSME exports.
The MSME sector contributes around 8% of the country's GDP, 45% of the manufactured output, 43% of country’s exports and provides employment to over 8 crore persons engaged in over 3.6 crore units. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, the government has increased Budget allocation for the sector to Rs 24,124 crore from Rs 11,500 crore in the previous five-plan period.