The Tamil Nadu government is creating land banks for MSMEs in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, said P Benjamin, Minister for Rural Indusries, here on Wednesday.
Addressing the second edition of annual Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) CEO Summit 2018, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Benjamin said the government is continuously resorting to various policy interventions and support schemes such as Business Facilitation Act and single-window clearance to support the MSME sector and to facilitate ease of doing business in the State.
Online portal
Urging the business community to benefit from the government’s online single-window MSME portal, Benjamin said the website enables entrepreneurs to apply and obtain approvals, licences and renewals in a time-bound and transparent manner.
“Through this portal, we have already approved 80 out of 125 applications filed worth ₹240.35 crore of investment,” Benjamin added.
The Minister also highlighted the latest initiatives of increasing the maximum eligibility of the project cost under the New Entrepreneur-cum-Enterprise Development Scheme (NEEDS), to ₹5 crore from ₹1 crore.
The upper limit of subsidy under NEEDS, a flagship scheme aimed at encouraging educated youth to become first generation entrepreneurs, has also been enhanced from ₹25 lakh to ₹30 lakh, he added.
Policy incentives
Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, Secretary, MSME department of the Tamil Nadu government, listed out various business-friendly policies introduced by the State government which includes 25 per cent mandatory government procurement from MSMEs, bills discounting facilities, innovation voucher scheme for start-ups, plot price rationalisation under SIDCO area besides frequent representations to RBI to increase the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) recognition time from 180 days for MSMEs.
“We want to support a minimum of 400 vouchers under the innovation voucher scheme every year,” Yadav added.
‘Positive climate’
Ponnuswami, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu chapter, said the investment climate in the State looked very positive, thanks to the single-window clearance and a host of other supportive measures taken by the State government.
“During the roadshow conducted by CII, we have witnessed an overwhelming response from the investors across the country who wanted to invest in the State,” he said.
The day-long summit saw the participation of CEOs from the MSME sector discuss wide range of topics such as Industry 4.0, business growth story, branding, product and communication design, digital marketing and export opportunities for the sector.