New Delhi, Mar 22 (KNN) The Ministry of MSME and SIDBI has brought 13 lakh informal micro enterprises into the formal ambit through the formalisation project, said B. B. Swain, Secretary, Ministry of MSME on Tuesday.

He said the government is relentlessly working towards ensuring a conducive environment for MSMEs.

“The ministry of MSME and SIDBI has been working together to launch a formalisation project in January this year to address the challenge of formalisation of the informal micro enterprises,” he said.

Speaking at the 9th MSME Excellence Awards organised by ASSOCHAM, he said the number of registered MSME have now reached 1.64 crore generating 10.73 crore employment in the process.

“We are looking beyond formalisation of these micro units to make this sector the highest employment provider in the country,” he said.

The figure of 10.73 crore employment generated is based on self-declaration by MSMEs and the sector is surely on its way to becoming the largest employment provider in the country.

Welcoming attendees at the summit, Sushma Paul Berlia, Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council on Business Facilitation and Global Competitiveness and Chairman, Apeejay Stya Group said, “MSMEs are bringing about significant change in their domains and setting the benchmarks of equality and performance. MSMEs contribute 30 per cent to the country’s GDP, offer livelihood to 11 crore people and account for 40 per cent of the country’s total exports. The entire nation is looking at the MSMEs to play a crucial role in the vision of building an atmanirbhar bharat and establishing India as a USD 5 trillion economy.

Speaking at the summit, Ramachandran Venkataraman, Director & Chief Operating Officer, V Guard Industries Ltd said, “The MSME sector is presented with a unique opportunity to envision the future of India. We must work to create an ecosystem that is conducive of growth and success of MSMEs by focussing on four key areas which will be instrumental to helping us get there.”

The 9th MSME Excellence awards was another highlight of the summit where best performing MSMEs in various categories were honoured.  (KNN Bureau)