MSME ecommerce portal to be launched in a month, says Nitin Gadkari
The portal is meant for selling products manufactured by small industries, and Gadkari expressed confidence that it will generate a turnover of Rs 10 lakh crore in two years after its launch.
Nitin Gadkari
The government has decided to launch its ecommerce portal, based on the lines of Alibaba in China and Amazon in the US, within a month, said MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The portal is meant for selling products manufactured by small industries.
Gadkari expressed confidence that it will generate a turnover of Rs 10 lakh crore in two years after its launch.
“It will provide a good opportunity to the MSME sector which contributes significantly in job generation and promoting growth of the country,” Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.
Like what Alibaba has done to China's growth and Amazon in the US, India has also decided to have a portal dedicated to the MSME sector, he said.
"We have also decided to launch a portal for promotion of MSME...we have also talked to GeM (Government e-Market place) and I have also discussed with Piyush Goyal (Commerce and Industry Minister). We are launching a new portal for MSME. It will be launched in a month," Gadkari added.
The minister further said that banks have sanctioned 36,000 loans under the 'psbloansin59minutes' portal.
Initially it was taking time, he said, adding "it is our endeavour to reduce the time taken for disbursement".
With regard to loans given to MSMEs, Gadkari said bank credit to the sector has increased from Rs 10.70 lakh crore at the end of March 2017 to Rs 14.97 lakh crore in March 2019.
He said the government has taken several steps to promote MSME sector including two percent interest subvention provided MSMEs have Udyog Aadhaar Number (UAN) and GST registration.
Speaking about Udyog Aaadhaar, the minister said 22.83 lakh MSMEs were registered on Udyog Aadhaar Portal in the country during March, 2018 to March 2019.
Gadkari also said that public procurement policy mandates the central ministries and PSUs to procure at least 25 percent of annual procurement from MSEs in place of 20 percent stipulated earlier.
He also said that the government has adopted Cluster Development Approach as a key strategy for enhancing productivity, competitiveness and capacity building of MSEs.
