Kathua: May 14(KMW): Reserve Bank of India organised a Town Hall meet on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector today at Kathua. A.K.Mattu, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Jammu, presided over the meeting and explained the rationale of holding such Town Hall meetings by RBI. He stated that the main idea was to have a feel of problems and issues being faced by MSME enterprises particularly in accessing the bank finance. Besides, such a forum also provided a useful platform for direct interaction between different stakeholders so as to attempt solutions on the spot.
He explained the useful role being played by the MSE sector in contributing to various sectors of economy, particularly to employment generation as nearly 12 crore persons were directly benefitted by small business enterprises. The sector had a potential to employ another 25 crore people if right kind of enabling environment was created for them in the country. Their contribution of MSE Sector to exports was around 40% and to manufacturing sector around 45%. But he lamented that the level of financial exclusion was very high in MSE sector as average debt per MSE unit was only Rs. 0.17 lakh and therefore linking them to formal banking sector was necessary for overall development of the economy.
The recent inauguration of MUDRA Bank by the Prime Minister of India with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore exclusively for small business units, signified the importance being attached to the sector. He exhorted the bankers to follow RBI guidelines on rehabilitation, nursing and hand holding of sick units scrupulously. A detailed presentation on the various initiatives taken by RBI/ Government of India and guidelines issued in this regard from time to time was made by R.B.Gupta, AGM, RBI. A presentation on the different schemes of SIDBI including CGTMSE scheme was made by Amit Kumar Sethi, AGM, SIDBI. All the bankers present in the Meeting explained various schemes offered by their respective banks to micro and small enterprises.
The local entrepreneurs spoke on their issues and offered suggestions for augmenting credit flow and requested more support from banks/ Government. The bankers present in the meeting, clarified queries raised by entrepreneurs and assured all support to meet the genuine requirements of the entrepreneurs in the State. The participants, which included a good number of first generation entrepreneurs, appreciated the initiative of RBI and requested for more of such events in future.
R.K.Sharma, AGM, RBI, Ajay K Gupta, AGM, State Bank of India, senior officers from Zonal Office Punjab National Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd, Jammu and Kashmir Grameen Bank, Director, KVIC, President, Industries Association and local entrepreneurs, participated in the meeting.
