Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said a working group of industry experts is soon expected to come out with norms for SME listing without going through the initial public offer route.
The proposal, announced in this year’s Union Budget allows SMEs to list on an SME exchange with the issue restricted to informed investors. This is in addition to the existing SME platform on which listing can be done through an IPO and with wider investor participation.
Speaking at the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s (DICCI) SME Fund launch in Mumbai, he expressed concern that only 25 companies had listed on the SME platforms of the BSE and the NSE so far.
He said that ministries/ departments/ PSUs would procure at least 20 per cent of their requirement of goods and services from micro small and medium enterprises (MSME). Of this, there was a special provision of four per cent for procurement from micro and small enterprises run by scheduled caste and scheduled tribe entrepreneurs. This was about Rs 46,000 crore and would create business opportunities for MSMEs, he said.
“Every branch of a bank must handhold at least one Dalit entrepreneur. With close to one a hundred thousand bank branches, a hundred thousand flowers will bloom,” he said.
He pointed out that SMEs were responsible for equitable distribution of income and wealth as they were located in rural areas.
He assured the gathering that he would speak to LIC/GIC/other Government insurers, PSU banks and public finance institutions to invest in the DICCI SME Fund.
Small Industries Development Bank of India has committed to invest Rs 10 crore in the fund. The fund aims to raise a total corpus of Rs 500 crore with the first tranche closing at Rs 200 crore.