Mysore/Mysuru: Dr. Ishita Ganguli Tripathy, Additional Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME, Government of India, said that those running MSMEs (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises) should effectively utilise Government loans and facilities. She was speaking after inaugurating the Outreach Programme on ‘Financial Literacy and Emerging Opportunities for MSMEs,’ jointly organised by SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India), KASSIA (Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association), MSME and Canara Bank, at Hotel Pai Vista here yesterday.

Highlighting the Central Government’s role and importance of MSME sector in nation-building, Dr. Ishita said that the Government extends loans and several facilities to MSME sector. But the number of those who avail these facilities is less and the Ministry of MSME is working towards bridging this gap. As such, it is important that the MSME sector is trained in an innovative way so that the sector will be more creative and support the Indian economy, she noted.

“The Government’s objective is to enhance financial literacy in the MSME sector. The Government has brought in unconventional industries under the MSME sector. This process will continue further and most such industries are availing less than Rs. 10 lakh as  loans,” Dr. Ishita said adding that more money has been reserved in the Union Budget for the MSME sector.

Satyaki Rastogi, General Manager, SIDBI Regional Office, Bengaluru, elaborated the facilities available to MSMEs and called upon entrepreneurs for generous utilisation of this opportunity. He said, big industries have separate departments and there will be a Human Resource Department to oversee their functioning. But in case of MSME sector, only one will take all responsibilities and as such they need aid in more quantity.

Noting that the growth of MSME sector can also be seen in rural areas, he said that, however, the contribution of the MSME sector to the growth of GDP in India is lesser when compared to other industries. As such, there is a need for more patronisation and financial support to the MSME sector, he observed.

KASSIA Bengaluru President Shashidhar Shetty said that the main objective of this programme is to train MSME sector in an innovative way so that the sector will be more creative and thus support Indian economy.

Mysore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President K.B. Lingaraju said that the main objective of this programme is to facilitate the growth of MSMEs in tier-2 cities along with Bengaluru.

Earlier, a national seminar on ‘Product-Process-Innovation and Packaging Technology’ was organised by MSME Development and Facilitation Office, Bengaluru, in association with KASSIA and MCCI. MSME Development & Facilitation Office Joint Director K. Socrates, Canara Bank Regional Director S. Rajashekar, District Industries Centre (DIC) Mysuru Joint Director T. Dinesh, SIDBI Mysuru Asst. General Manager Albert Jeremy & MCCI Hon. Secretary A.K. Shivaji Rao were present.