Nitin Gadkari: Govt to launch global ecommerce portal for MSMEs and Khadi industry

The government is in the process of launching a portal for marketing of goods made by MSMEs and khadi industry on the lines of Chinese e-commerce portal Alibaba and USA's Amazon, said MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

He said MSMEs contribute about 29 percent to the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the government is taking steps to significantly increase this.

"We have fixed the target to increase the share of MSME to 50 percent of GDP in the next five years," he said, adding the sector would also add 15 crore jobs.

Some of the opposition members raised their voice against such targets which were not met previously to which Gadkari replied that they can question this target if he does not meet it.

"Like we have achieved all targets of the road ministry, we would achieve this also," Gadkari said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that if members want half an hour discussion on steps being taken by the government on the MSME sector, he would allow that.

Gadkari said countries like China have pushed their growth by strengthening the MSME sector and India is also focussing on that.

He said problems being faced by the MSMEs include cost of credit, marketing of products, labour issues, management issues, and cost of working capital.

 The ministry is working with different stakeholders to resolve these issues, he said.

"On cost of credit, we are talking with the ADB and the World Bank. We did a meeting with them," he said.

Alibaba and Amazon provide a big global platform for MSME players, so based on this, "we are working to launch a marketing website for MSMEs and khadi industry," he said.

Citing an example, he said through this portal even a beekeeper can sell his/her product to any part of the world.

Last month, Gadkari made a similar announcement about the portal and MSME Secretary Arun Kumar Panda said the talks have just begun in this regard. Gadkari added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of making India a $5 trillion economy can only be fulfilled by ensuring the growth of the MSME sector in the country. 

Gadkari had said there is an urgent need to encourage research and innovation in the sector, collaborate with global entities to bring in the latest technology and best practices and also promote marketing. For this, he has proposed creating a new website where people can post new ideas, suggestions and innovations.

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