Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Jammu, conducted the 53rd Empowered Committee meeting on MSMEs for the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The meeting was chaired by Sandeep Mittal, General Manager, RBI and was also attended by senior officers of major public and private sector banks in the region. Anoo Malhotra, Director, Industries and Commerce, Jammu, Abhishek Chandra, Functional Manager, Industries and Commerce Department, Ladakh and representatives from SIDBI and PHDCCI also attended the meeting.
At the outset, Sandeep Mittal, General Manager, RBI, while welcoming the participants stressed on the importance of the MSME sector to the Indian economy, especially their contribution to GDP and employment generation.
Highlighting various studies showing prevalence of informal finance in the MSME sector due to their unorganized nature, he exhorted the banks to step up their efforts in targeting the MSME sector as a significant and profitable business opportunity.
He urged the participants to step up awareness initiatives so that both prospective and established entrepreneurs are well informed about the policies and schemes targeting the MSME sector.
Highlighting the low NPA levels in MSME accounts as compared to big corporates, he stressed that lending to MSME remains a profitable venture for all the banks.
The Committee reviewed the progress of banks in extending credit to the MSME sector and issues being faced by them, status of CGTMSE covered cases, status of NPAs in the MSE sector, progress on the structured mechanism for flow of credit to the MSE sector, revival and rehabilitation of sick units, identification of unrecognized clusters for MSE, identification of units registered with District Industries Centre who are yet to be credit linked, implementation of financial education programmes for the sector, etc.
The banks assured the house that they are committed to support the MSME sector by providing timely and adequate financing and also apprised the house regarding the initiatives taken by them in this direction. The participants assured to work closely with all stakeholders for nurturing and supporting the sector for the overall development of the UTs.
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