State Offers Conducive Milieu for MSME Sector: Shri P Rajeeve

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Kerala has immense scope and a conducive ecosystem for cost-effective and environment-friendly Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) that require minimal land compared to big-ticket industrial projects, Minister for Industries, Law and Coir P Rajeeve said here today.

Rajeeve was speaking after inaugurating the state-level rollout workshop on the World Bank-supported Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) programme being implemented by the Ministry of MSME, Government of India, for scaling up MSMEs across the country.

“Like knowledge-based industries, MSME sector has a pivotal role in the state’s industrial environment. RAMP can be the biggest game changer in the MSME sector,” the Minister said.

Rajeeve said the grant from the Centre as part of the RAMP project will be utilised to further strengthen the MSME ecosystem.

The Minister said MSME sector will be given prominence in the precursor events like roundtable meetings and roadshows planned ahead of the Global Investment Summit to be organized by the Department of Industries & Commerce (DI&C) in Kochi in February 2025.

Noting that the ‘One lakh enterprises in a year’ project of the DI&C has got wide acceptance, Shri Rajeeve said around 2,75,000 ventures have been set up so far. “There should be a situation where each venture is coming up by leveraging the skill and service of educated women from each home. It is also necessary to consider special small scale industries sectors as different clusters,” he added.

In his presidential address, S Harikishore, Director, Department of Industries & Commerce and MD, KSIDC, said the RAMP project will help the state’s MSME sector flourish further, besides developing skill sets in various sectors.

Harikishore said the Rs 107-crore grant received from the RAMP project will enable the state to largely scale up the activities of MSMEs.

The RAMP aims to scale up the implementation capacity and coverage of MSMEs in the states, with impact enhancement of existing schemes.

The programme envisages fostering innovation, encouraging ideation, and incubating new business and entrepreneurship by developing quality standards, improving practices and processes, enhancing market access, deploying technological tools, and Industry 4.0 to make MSMEs competitive and self-reliant.

Dr K R Rajeshwary, Deputy Director, Ministry of MSME, and Dr Milan Sharma, National PMU Head, RAMP made presentations on RAMP.

Harikrishnan R, KSIDC Executive Director and DI&C Additional Directors Rajeev G and K S Kripakumar also spoke. DI&C Deputy Director Shabeer made a presentation on the implementation of the RAMP project in Kerala.

While Business Facilitator, GeM, Manesh Mohan spoke on government e-market place DI&C Deputy Director Premraj P made a presentation on Kerala Industrial Policy and incentives.

The Centre has approved the Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) submitted by Kerala. The state has got a grant of Rs 107.71 crore for implementation of schemes included in the SIP.

The implementation of RAMP is set to make a strategic transformation of MSME sector in the state with the government unveiling a slew of measures.

Various components of the program include enhancing capability of enterprises as part of Mission 1000 and Make-in-Kerala initiatives, improving digital infrastructure, greater access to finance and market, institutional supports and sectoral intervention.

The support extended to MSMEs as part of the programme include aid to prepare Detailed Project Report, handholding of MSMEs by business executives, promotion of Kerala brand and leveraging the export potential of products, MSME clinics, technology clinics and support centres, training for women and youth, energy audit, awards for MSMEs, organizing loan fairs.

A three-year timeframe has been set for the implementation of the schemes by DI&C. The MSME ministry of the centre will provide the funds for continuing the program after evaluating the progress of the project.