RBI organises meet on Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

Excelsior Correspondent
Kathua, May 14: Reserve Bank of India organised a meet on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises  (MSME) sector here today.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.