New Delhi, Dec 15 (KNN)  In response to various stakeholders such as prospective entrepreneurs, existing entrepreneurs, MSME/Industry associations, academia, public representatives etc, advocating a national MSME policy for India, the Ministry of MSME has come out with a draft consultation paper and has called for feedback on the same.
 
The details regarding the draft paper can be accessed on: http://www.msme.gov.in/…/MSME%20Policy%20final%20document.p…
 
On the complexity of the sector and factors that need to be considered for framing a national MSME policy, “The coverage of the MSME sector is so wide, so varied and so differentiated that a 'single size fits all' will not work. The MSMEs of India would be the cradle for the Make in India vision. This would be the nursery where small businesses have the potential to compete at the international level tomorrow. The larger players amongst the MSME space also are in a unique position to become global players attracting partners with technology and funds,” the Ministry’s social networking site said on Sunday.
 
With this background in mind, the Government of India has come out with a Draft Consultation Paper on National MSME Policy.
 
The Ministry of MSME has invited suggestions, ideas, and feedback on this draft paper from all the stakeholders including concerned citizens. These suggestions will be duly considered and accordingly a National MSME Policy will be proposed, it said.
 
Any MSME Policy for India should take into account the various ministries, and all the policies should be aligned with each other because the focus would be the entrepreneur, whether he is starting up, he is growing, he is wanting to become a large domestic player or a global competitor; the Policy framework must enable and encourage all this, it said.

Further, it should also be aligned with MSME Policies of the state governments, take into account the progressive policies in the Western and the Eastern Hemispheres; and encourage establishment and growth of units.   It should also encourage the entrepreneur to grow and become a global player.

Significantly, the Policy Framework should be enabling, supporting, provide for very small businesses and offer subsidy.

Most of all, it should address the questions - How to enable Indian service enterprises to become global players observing global levels of standards of services and ensure that Indian service industry can become a global player? What steps should the Government take to enable the Service Industry to grow? What steps or standards should be prescribed for providing basic minimum level of standards? Do we require to set up Skill Development Centres which teach these standards and should there be a regulatory framework? Given that we have a numerous types of services, should there be an Industry driven Council which enforces such standards?

Once these points are addressed in framing MSME Policy of the country, an eco-system supporting services sector in MSMEs can be created, it said.

Also highlighted in the draft consultation paper is the need to encourage entrepreneurship in the country by providing a suitable eco system for start-ups for creating new enterprises both in manufacturing and service sector.  

In addition, the new policy needs to have frameworks for regulatory regime, environment compliance,  for green, orange and red categories of industries; new product development; value addition mechanisms; knowledge and innovation; manufacturing and services ‘excellence’; export promotion and marketing; the growth accelerator; consultative mechanism; financial regime; resources provisioning; and exit policy among others.

These frameworks should cater to the needs of village and rural industries, traditional industries; handicrafts and handlooms and other industries such as defence manufacturing industries, electronics services design and manufacturing industries, agro food processing industries, machine tool industries, casting and forging industries, etc., it said.  (KNN/ES)