By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JULY 21, 2020: UNION Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Road & Transport Mr Nitin Gadkari emphasized on the need of a policy or a model which can help micro/small businesses/works like fisherman, ferry walas, Rickshaw pullers, vegetable vendors, poor, self help groups etc. financially. He was addressing ‘Pan IIT Global E-Conclave on reimagining MSMEs and Livelihoods' late yesterday through video conference.

He said that most of the population in the country is involved in very small enterprises like fishing, Bee-keeping, Bamboo production etc. and are economically and socially backward and lack sufficient financial support for them. They are hard working, skilled, talented and honest but due to lack of finance they can not do any value addition in their businesses/works. With a little financial, technological and marketing support  they can grow their business/work which in turn will definitely boost employment opportunities  in Rural, Agricultural and Tribal areas and will also give strength to our GDP.

Mr Gadkari invited suggestions to develop a model to help and finance these socially, economically and educationally backward entrepreneurs. He said that this model should be transparent, corruption free, IT enabled with less procedural hassles and needing least permissions etc. He expressed hope that the model when approved by NITI Ayog, Finance Ministry, can support a lot of enterprises involved in bamboo, honey production, alternative fuels and other areas. Noble Peace Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus, founder- Grameen Bank, Bangladesh also shared his vision during the discussion in vedio conference.