Finance Minister Advocates Cluster Development for MSEs in Arunachal Pradesh

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the Arunachal Pradesh government to adopt a cluster development approach to boost micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the state, during a credit outreach programme. She highlighted the need for establishing common facility centers and utilizing various central schemes to support MSEs.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday advised the Arunachal Pradesh government to adopt the cluster development approach as a key strategy for enhancing productivity and competitiveness, as well as capacity building of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the state.

Addressing a credit outreach program organized by the State Bank of India, Sitharaman pointed out that Arunachal Pradesh lacks even a single cluster announced by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) to date. She urged Chief Minister Pema Khandu to take up the cluster development approach of the 20 GI-identified products in the state. Clusters could be declared by the ministry, and Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) could finance such enterprises.

The approach includes establishing common facility centers (CFCs) to support the growth and sustainability of MSEs in Arunachal Pradesh. The minister also handed over an ambulance and a hearse van to the police under the SBI CSR activity and flagged off demonstration vans for financial literacy and mobile medical units for rural medical camps.

(With inputs from agencies.)