New Delhi, May 29 (KNN) Laghu Udyog Bharati (LUB) and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) have suggested government to make Indian ownership as an additional qualification for getting Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) tag.

''Since, the government has proposed change in definition of MSMEs based on the criteria of investment and annual sale turnover and we agree with this,'' said Govind Lele, General Secretary, LUB.

''The government should also ensure that only those firms qualify as MSME in which ownership and effective control lies in Indian hands," he added.

He further said that MSMEs should be distinctly defined to separate traders, service providers and professionals from them.

As per the revised MSME classification, any firms in both manufacturing and service sector will be defined as “Micro” if they have an investment up to Rs 1 crore and turnover up to Rs 5 crore.

Earlier, firms could only be defined as Micro if they had an investment up to Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh in manufacturing and service sector respectively.

Both manufacturing and service firms can be classified as “Small” if they have investment up to Rs 10 crore and turnover up to Rs 50 crore respectively.

On the other hands, ''Medium'' manufacturing and service firms will be allowed an investment up to Rs 20 crore and turnover up to Rs 100 crore.

Meanwhile, Swadeshi Jagran Manch also wants the medium enterprises to be excluded from the definition of MSMEs as they are as good as big unit.

"First of all, the government should exclude medium enterprises from MSMEs as they are as good as large. Then, enterprise should be replaced with industry in the definition. Jobs are created more from manufacturing so we should encourage it,'' said Ashwini Mahajan, co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

''If non-manufacturing firms are brought into the fold of MSMEs, then all the benefits would be taken away by them," he added.

He also suggested that there should be separate set of incentives for traders and other service segments so that one is not mixed up with the other.