With another effort to promulgate entrepreneurial growth of the MSME’s, the interim budget unveiled VCFs with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to accelerate the growth of the MSME’s. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector is the backbone of the country’s economy as it is the principal contributor to manufacturing, exports and employment generation. The major concerns rest with the fact on how funds would be infused to attain the expected growth.

It is expected that the Ministry of MSME would set up structured incubation centers at the district level, which would provide budding entrepreneurs with accessibility to Technology, Resources and Professional advice towards Investment support and business planning.

Further it was announced that National accelerators & incubators for startups would be setup. The much needed legal bankruptcy framework will be developed to be more entrepreneur-friendly, making exits for SMEs easier. The Budget 2014 also expressed on setting-up committee for financial architecture of the MSMEs, to attract capital and foster rightful capital deployment.

The challenging task here would also be to ensure that the person can approach the MSME Ministry from anywhere to get the best professional and technical advice. Mere setting up of incubation centres will be of no use if the proposed plans are not executed and implemented in an effective and fruitful way.

Are existing incubation centres incapable of delivering the objective of the Budget 2014?

Setbacks in resources, availability of training facilities & robust governance deliverance etc. require centres to undergo rehabilitation. Having said that, Ministry of MSME may also need to take extra initiatives on Productivity, Innovation and Strategic partnerships to support continued sectoral growth.

Will corruption overpower growth?

Corruption is not a process, but integral to individual ethics. Adequate safeguards and stringent measures need to be put in place, to protect the objective of such initiative and not dilute the objective of growth with Corruption.

The Government involvement here should be restricted to ensuring availability of funds. The Committee who would look up the matter should be independent of the Government officials. Transparency should be maintained at all levels.

Despite the high concentration of MSMEs in the country, India still lacks an overall effort towards enabling this sector to effectively integrate with global companies and contribute further towards economic growth. This initiative is expected to act as a catalyst of change toward prosperous MSME sector.