Government of India is to implement a new Agro MSME policy

The policy is to focus entrepreneurship in rural, tribal, forest and agricultural areas

• The central government is going to implement a new Agro MSME policy on Micro, Small, and
  Medium Enterprises
• This will mainly focus on the entrepreneurship development in the tribal, rural, forest and
  agricultural areas
• The announcement was made during a meeting that was conducted to discuss impact of
  COVID-19 over the MSME sector

Key highlights of the policy

• The need to focus on export enhancement as well as import substitution to replace foreign
  imports with domestic production
• The industry should focus more on innovation, entrepreneurship, science and technology,
  research skill and experiences to convert knowledge into wealth
• The policy will encourage manufacturing products using the local raw materials

Salient key points of the policy

• The policy will try to replace foreign imports with domestic production
• The industry must focus more on innovation, science, and technology, entrepreneurship,
  research skills that will convert knowledge to wealth
• It is to be noted that this year the budget was presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala
  Sitaraman under the theme “Creation of Wealth
• Japan government had offered special packages to its industries in order to take out
  Japanese investments from China and moving somewhere else. He further stated that it is an
  opportunity that India must grab
• The alignment of the Delhi-Mumbai green express highway and expressed it as an
  opportunity for the industry to make future investments in logistics parks and industrial
  clusters
• Urged the industries to expand the industrial clusters in areas other than the metro cities
• The Union minister also suggested the beauty and wellness industry to encourage the
  consumers to use Indian Ayurvedic Products rather than imported ones
• Ministry of MSME has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ayush
  Ministry. It will promote the Ayush sector through various schemes of MSMEs specifically in the
  area of skilling, training, and entrepreneurship of development
• The members of the Beauty and Wellness Industry were also advised to register as Micro,
  Small, and Medium Enterprise. It will help them in benefitting from various schemes of MSME
• The challenges faced by various MSME’s due to COVID-19. They also gave a few
  suggestions and requested government support to keep the sector operative

What is “Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)”?

• It is a branch of the Government of India, is the apex executive body for the formulation and
  administration of rules, regulations and laws relating to micro, small and medium enterprises in
  India
• The Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is Nitin Gadkari and the Minister of
  State is Pratap Chandra Sarangi since 31 May 2019
• MSMEs not only play crucial role in providing large employment opportunities at
  comparatively lower capital cost than large industries but also help in industrialization of rural
  & backward areas
• Thereby, reducing regional imbalances, assuring more equitable distribution of national
  income and wealth
• MSMEs are complementary to large industries as ancillary units and this sector contributes
  enormously to the socio-economic development of the country

Pic courtesy : thehindu.com