The Government’s effort to make India a manufacturing hub and inviting thousands of MNCs and large Indian corporates to take part in the Prime Minster’s ‘Make in India’ campaign will not impact small and medium enterprises (SMEs), MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra said here on Tuesday. He was addressing a press conference to showcase his Ministry’s 100-day report card.

“Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the economy and have a huge role to play in making India a manufacturing hub,” the Minister said, adding that MNCs were being called to make investments, such as in industrial parks. He was replying to a query on the Government’s plans to invite 3,000 foreign companies from 30 countries across 25 sectors to take part in the ‘Make in India’ campaign to be launched Thursday and its possible impact on the MSME sector.

The framework to operationalise the ₹10,000-crore venture capital fund for MSMEs, announced in this year’s Budget, is expected to be completed in October, the Minister said.

“The Ministry has been working closely with the Department of Financial Services on this. A committee that was to be set up is still not in place, but it is work in progress,” he added.

A senior MSME Ministry official said the tenure of the funds is yet to be decided as also their form.

“These could be given as soft loans, credit guarantee etc,” he added.

On easier credit access to MSMEs, Mishra was critical of banks which, he said, claimed they were offering loans on the base rate, but there were instances of some banks giving loans at much higher interest rates of 10-12 per cent.

“This and the issue of bad loans by the MSME sector will now be handled by the Prime Minister. Talks will also be held with the Finance and Commerce Ministries,” he added.

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