DEHRADUN, Oct 31: Uttarakhand has considerable potential in the MSME sector and entrepreneurs of the state must come forward to utilise the new opportunities made available by the Centre to this sector, Union Minister Kalraj Mishra said today.
“There is renewed emphasis on the MSME sector ever since Narendra Modi government took over at the Centre. We have made online registration process much simpler. New entrepreneurs don’t have to run around government offices any more to register their industrial units,” the minister said.
“So they must come forward and make the most of the available opportunities,” Mishra, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) told reporters here.
He also informed that apart from simplifying the registration process, which is now done free of cost on the basis of self-certification, new safeguards have also been introduced to help such entrepreneurs prevent the NPA tag.
Earlier, the process was complicated and the risk of being declared non performing assets (NPA) was much high for new entrepreneurs if they failed to repay the bank loans partially within the stipulated time frame of three months, he added.
As a result of the new measures, 18,000 registrations have been done within a short span of one month, he said adding norms have also been relaxed for revival and rehabilitation of the sick units and improving the performance of under-performing enterprises through a corrective action plan.
Efforts are also being made for the effective implementation of collateral-free bank loans for entrepreneurs in the MSME sector.
Earlier in the day, the minister flagged off ‘run for unity’ to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and placed a flower garland on his statue.
He remembered Patel’s significant contribution to the merger of nearly 600 self-governing princely states with the Indian Union. (PTI)