As many as 49,608 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have registered in the State till Wednesday, Minister for Industries P. Rajeeve has said.
Replying during Question Hour in the Assembly on Wednesday, the Minister said the year 2022-23 was being observed as the ‘Year of Entrepreneurship,’ and the target was to start one lakh MSMEs this financial year.
“As part of this, investment to the tune of ₹2,930 crore has come in, and more than 1.08 lakh job opportunities have been created.”
Mr. Rajeeve said branded products on the lines of ‘made in Kerala’ would be promoted to ensure a market for these enterprises. The Industries department would organise special fairs of products of these new enterprises at the district, block and panchayat levels. An e-commerce platform would be set up for sale of ‘made in Kerala’ products.
On the steps to promote MSMEs, the Minister said under the ‘One family, one enterprise’ scheme, the government would provide financial assistance to those taking bank loans above an interest rate of 4%. It would provide interest subsidy to manufacturing, services, and commercial enterprises that have bank loans of up to ₹10 lakh. Benefits would be available for permanent capital loans and working capital loans. Interest subsidy would be provided for five years to units that had started functioning from April 1 this year.
As part of the MSME clinic scheme, a panel of experts at industrial centres would clear the doubts of industrialists. Steps had been taken to transform taluk industry offices into facilitation centres. Help desks for entrepreneurs had also been set up in all local bodies. Services of 1,153 interns with BTech/MBA qualifications would be available to entrepreneurs twice a week at these help desks.
A grievance redressal system too was in place to address grievances of entrepreneurs with respect to various departments. Manufacturing or agro start-ups would get the same benefits as those received by IT start-ups, he said.
