FIFTH MEETING OF NATIONAL BOARD FOR
MICRO, SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES HELD
The
union Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Minister Shri Mahabir
Prasad has urged Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
to spread its network to meet the requirement of Micro, Small &
Medium Enterprises of backward places of our country. He said this while
chairing the Fifth Meeting of the National Board for Micro, Small
& Medium Enterprises (NBMSME) in New Delhi on 27th
June, 2008. Shri Prasad said, with the objective of augmenting
credit flow to MSMEs, SIDBI along with some leading public and
private sector banks as well as certain foreign banks, set up SME
Rating Agency of India Ltd. (SMERA), which is the country’s first
and only rating agency exclusively for this sector in India. The
main agenda for the fifth meeting of the NBMSME were: Role of SIDBI;
Status of Credit Flow to Micro and Small Enterprises; Securitisation
And Reconstruction Of Financial Assets And Enforcement Of Security
Interest Act 2002; Bank Service Charges; One-time Settlement Scheme
and Exemption from service tax to MSEs providing business auxiliary
services.
Various
State Ministers, representatives of MSME Associations and Trade
Unions, from all over the country and senior officials of various
ministries from the central as well as the state governments
participated in the daylong deliberations. Some MSME associations
alleged that the banks were recovering loans from small borrowers by
resorting to harsh means under Securitisation and Reconstruction of
Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act 2002.
Sharing the concerns of the Members, the Minister said the Working
Group on ‘rehabilitation of sick SMEs’ set up by the Reserve
Bank of India under the chairmanship of CMD, Punjab National Bank
also considered this issue under the Act.
The Minister further stated that the Working Group in its
report has made certain important recommendations, which is
presently under the consideration of RBI.
Shri
Prasad said that some representations were received from MSME
Associations regarding One-time Settlement Scheme, which had been
taken up with the Finance Ministry.
It
was revealed in the meeting that SMERA has entered into MoU with 22
banks and institutions to rate their MSME clients and has completed
1758 ratings by May 2008. SMERA has also completed risk profiling of
nine MSME clusters. SIDBI offers an interest rate reduction of upto
one per cent depending upon the ratings obtained from SMERA.
Shri
Dinesh Rai, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium
Enterprises, Dr.
Syeda Hameed,
Member Planning Commission and Shri Jawhar Sircar, Addl. Secretary
and Development Commissioner also participated in the Meeting.
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