Manipur, May 16 (KNN) Manipur government has distributed emergency financial assistance to 41 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.

According to the Department of Information & Public Relations DIPR Manipur report, the assistance was provided in coordination with the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank to enable the MSMEs to resume their normal functioning.

Speaking on the occasion, the Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, on Friday, said that announcement of the economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore was a bold and historic step as the amount equals to 10 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

Singh said that soon, the financial assistance will be given to these enterprises in the form of loans from different banks to restart their normal activities.

''It would prove to be a success as repayment rate is now encouragingly high in the state,'' he added.

He further that state needs to focus on agriculture, horticulture and MSME sectors to revive the state's economy in line with the Centre's decision

"Manipur stands first in the number of MSME registration in the entire northeast. Of these, 50 per cent MSMEs are owned by women," Singh  said.

In October last year, Manipur had topped the list of MSME business registration among the North-eastern states and 50 per cent of the businesses is owned by women.

The CM had attributed the rapid growth of businesses in Manipur to Government's aggressive push for business and entrepreneurship under the Start-up scheme.

He further claimed that Manipur's share in MSME businesses is also higher than Manipur's share in national population.

"Manipur's share in national population is 0.2 per cent while Manipur share in MSME businesses is 0.3 per cent," he added.