MSME Minister lauds efforts of achieving 4% procurement from SC/ST enterprises

He said that the endeavour of the MSME Ministry is to constantly upgrade the technologies adopted by MSMEs to churn out quality products in order to make them marketable and competitive.

Minister of State (I/C) for MSME, Giriraj Singh, today felicitated select Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) for their exemplary work under the Public Procurement Policy for the promotion of SC/ST entrepreneurs. Fourteen CPSEs in the Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna and general categories were felicitated. Seventy CPSEs from across the country participated in this event.

Speaking on the occasion, Giriraj Singh informed that Public Procurement Policy where all Central ministries, departments and PSEs have to procure a minimum 25% of the total annual purchase or services from MSEs of the annual requirement of 25%, 4% is earmarked for units owned by SC-ST entrepreneurs. In addition, 358 items are reserved for exclusive purchase from the MSEs.

He said that the endeavour of the MSME Ministry is to constantly upgrade the technologies adopted by MSMEs to churn out quality products in order to make them marketable and competitive. He said MSMEs were today in the forefront of manufacturing, export and employment creation. He further said that this was made possible through measures such as increasing the limit for the provision of collaterals free loans to Rs 2 crore, technology upgradation, cluster development, vendor development and schemes aimed at extending financial benefits to SC-ST entrepreneurs.

 The Minister also added that the Ministry of MSME and all CPSEs are on the right path towards achieving the target of 4% procurement from SC/ST enterprises. Giriraj Singh urged CPSEs to raise their procurement from MSMEs and break the “barrier” of 25% and strengthen their ‘sambandh’ with MSMEs in order to bring about inclusivity and growth.

Dr Arun Kumar Panda, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, urged CPSEs to share information of procurement requirements on the MSME Sambandh portal. Dr Panda said that the procurement from SC/ST MSEs for the current FY stood at over Rs. 520 crores. Orders worth almost Rs. 27,000 crores have been procured from over 63,000 MSEs in 2018-19. He suggested the formation of a committee to examine the conditions of tender documents of CPSEs that were preventing SC-ST entrepreneurs from participation in public procurement.

Ms Seema Bahuguna, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, shared the concerns of the MSME Ministry and emphasized that quality issues in procurement were real and should be addressed. In this context, she said that the private sector too would have to contribute its might to source products and services from SC-ST entrepreneurs.

The CPSEs which were felicitated include Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, NMDC Limited, NBCC (India) Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, National Small Industries Corporation Limited, MMTC National Film Development Corporation, PEC, Food Corporation of India and Jute Corporation of India.

(With Inputs from PIB)