To boost small industry, nationwide survey on industries and skills completed

Saturday June 20, 2015 , 2 min Read

With nationwide survey on industry and skills completed, the MSME ministry now moves closer to use Rs 10,000 crore venture capital fund for small businesses.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry has completed mapping industries and available skills in all districts. "It is big survey which we have carried out. We shall use the results to device government action for each district," Union Minister Kalraj Mishra said, while addressing a logistics industry summit here.

The survey was carried out across 676 districts, going into what kind of industry thrived in a particular area, he said. It may be noted that the government has been laying greater stress on skill development and also created a separate ministry for skill development under Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

According to PTI, Mishra said that the ministry does not want any small unit to go sick and has been urging small units to take advantage of schemes like the Credit Guarantee Trust for MSME (CGTMSE), under which banks give collateral-free lending up to Rs 1 crore.

When asked about the Rs 10,000 crore venture capital fund for small businesses announced in the budget, Mishra replied that a committee appointed to look into it has presented its report recommending equity participation in companies as the way forward. However, he did not offer any timeline to launch the fund.

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