India does not need to import from China: MSME Minister

New Delhi, Dec 1 (KNN) Hailing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for doing an excellent job despite facing an economic crisis, the Union Minister of MSME has said that India does not need to import from China.

"Already in the automobile sector, agriculture, and everywhere, we have already found the solutions. Now we don't need to import from China," the minister said at a virtual event on Monday organised by Dun & Bradstreet.

He further pointed out that India was exporting a lot of items instead of importing them.

"I don't want to talk much about China and other things because every country has their own policies. Our strength is the young talented manpower which is available in India," he said.

He said that currently, the majority of countries are not interested to deal with China; they are rather interested in India adding, ''Such a situation is advantageous for the country's manufacturing sector to ramp up its capabilities to boost exports from India''.

"We have already reduced our imports from China and already our exports are increasing. The trends are positive and I am expecting good results in this field," said the minister.

While commenting on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Minister said the simple definition of creating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat is the initiative to increase exports while reducing imports.

''MSMEs can play a crucial role in boosting India’s exports through upgradation in technology, reductions in cost of production, and improvements in packaging and presentation,'' he added.

Gadkari also recapped the MSME Ministry’s measures for small businesses, and said these schemes “have been doing well and are seeing very good response”.

The Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free loan scheme, the Rs 20,000 crore subordinate debt for MSMEs, and the Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion through the Funds of Funds (FoF) were some recent schemes the Minister mentioned during his address.

''The new MSME definition is “revolutionary” and will benefit the sector at large,'' he added.