Mumbai, Feb 29 (KNN) Reacting to the Union Budget 2016-17 presented in Parliament today, President, Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Milind Kamble said that on the whole he welcomes the great and innovative measures that cater to the disadvantaged section of the society.

During the Budget Speech, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley referred to the 125th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. This must become the Year of Economic Empowerment for SC/ST entrepreneurs, he said.

He went on to say that his Ministry had extensively interacted with the Dalit India Chamber of Commerce and Industry on building an entrepreneurship eco-system.

“It is proposed to constitute a National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub in the MSME Ministry in partnership with industry associations. This Hub will provide professional support to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs to fulfil the obligations under the Central Government procurement policy 2012, adopt global best practices and leverage the Stand Up India initiative,” the FM said.

According to the FM, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs are beginning to show great promise in starting and running successful business enterprises.

Further, considering that the Prime Minister had given a call for promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST to become job providers rather than job seekers, the Union Cabinet has approved the “Stand Up India Scheme” to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women, he said.

He said that Rs 500 crore has been provided for this purpose.  The Scheme will facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, one for each category of entrepreneur, thereby benefitting at least 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs.

Further, according to media reports, SIDBI will be raising the proposed Rs 10,000 crore corpus for stand Up India fund from RBI which will be dispersed to Dalit and women entrepreneurs.

“With the additional Rs 500 crore now proposed, our demands have been fulfilled, and we are very happy,” Kamble said.  He believes that buyers and sellers will now have common platform for transactions.   (KNN Bureau)