New Delhi, Dec 29 (KNN) The number of jobs created under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) that is being implemented by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have registered a negative trend, data from the government reveals.

According to the data furnished by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, in 2012-13, the number of MSMEs set up stood at 57884 generating over 428246 spots for employment.

Comparing this with the data from 2015-16, the MSMEs setup during this period stood at 44340, generating over 323362 spots for employment.

Commenting over the number, Dr. Yerram Raju, Economist, said that the not so good looking trend in terms of MSMEs getting support under PMEGP is indeed a concern for the economy.

Listing the probable reasons for the same, Raju informed that the support to MSMEs by private sector banks is always on the lower priority, therefore despite a scheme in place, the results are not up to the mark.

He further said that in order to realise the target of achieving better employment rates, the government must go for a cluster based approach.

Also it is important to have a mechanism based on ‘supervised lending’ and not an ‘on chair lending’.

The MSMEs apart from credit, require appropriate handholding, mentoring and counselling which should be on the agenda for the government and implementing agencies, Raju added.

Raju made these comments responding to the information furnished by the MSME Minister in Rajya Sabha yesterday. (KNN/DA)