Govt to launch exclusive scheme for women entrepreneurs

Hyderabad: The Centre would shortly launch an exclusive scheme for women entrepreneurs, a senior official in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) said today.

"It will be an exclusive scheme for women entrepreneurs. We have not yet finalised the contours (of the scheme). Hopefully, we will launch it before the end of the financial year," B H Anil Kumar, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry, told reporters here.

Earlier, he launched myloanassocham.Com, a portal, industry body ASSOCHAM said, that provides MSMEs online access to funds at an affordable rate from a mix of banks and financial institutions.

Kumar said the figures that the MSME sector contributes 8 percent to the country's GDP, 45 percent of the manufacturing output and 40 percent of the exports are based on survey reports of 2007.

Those survey reports have been extrapolated. It's a random survey, and it's not clear how much of that figure is based on hardcore data, according to him.

In this background, the Ministry is in the process of creating an MSME data bank based on which it can project the actual requirements of the sector, he said and asked these enterprises to register themselves.

Reserve Bank of India, Kumar said, has issued guidelines for creation of committees for revival and rehabilitation of MSMEs which are facing stress. Banks are in the process of setting them up at State levels.

Noting that 90 percent of MSMEs in India are either based on proprietorship or partnership model, Kumar pitched for they putting in place a corporate structure so that an enterprise "does not die when entrepreneur passes away".