Govt looks towards MSMEs for revival of exports: Sitharaman

New Delhi, Sep 17 (KNN) The government is looking towards small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for revival of exports, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Economic Times,‎ a daily newspaper, in an interview.

Asked whether she was worried about the dip in exports, Sitharaman said it was no longer a cause for worry.

She said that the goal now was to ensure that exports picked up "conveniently", for which efforts had been "continuously on for nearly a year".

In the interview, Sitharaman said that she needed to focus on promoting investments in domestic industries and the expansion of industries. She also highlighted that the SME sector especially desired hand-holding from the government.

Stating that the SME sector already contributed about 35-40 per cent of the country's exports, she said that her aim was to ensure that their share rose further.

She added that she had made "earnest" efforts to figure out the sector's hesitations regarding investing, or expanding their investments in the country. She highlighted that that she had looked into whether they were facing a credit-related issue. Stating that she wanted Indian manufacturing to "rev up", she told the financial daily: "I want 'Make in India' from that point of view...."

Referring to concerns in the export sector over discouraging global growth, she said that the only was to make a foray into certain "domains" currently unavailable to the country's industries by targeting "niche areas". She added that the government was watching major world economies closely to see if there were any steps being taken overall or in particular sectors.

Further, she said that another way was to see whether Indian industry had achieved international standards in particular sectors and then see if they "could expand in territories in which they are already present". She highlighted the pharmaceutical sector as a particularly good opportunity.