Nitin Gadkari insisted MSME to upgrade and accept new technologies

Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has said that MSME must upgrade their technology and accept new technologies in order to make products that can substitute imports and increase India's exports.

While speaking at the 10th MSME Convention of All India Management Association (AIMA), Gadkari said, "

Gadkari shared his ideas on innovation needs and potential of Indian MSMEs. Gadkari also  applauded AIMA for bringing industry focus on innovative solutions for the MSMEs.

Mr Harsh Pati Singhania, President, AIMA and Vice Chairman & Managing Director, JK Paper appreciated the minister's efforts to save India's MSME sector during the covid crisis.

"The MSME sector was the key to raising the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25% of the GDP and creating 5 crore additional jobs in the coming five years," he stressed.

However, he added, for that to happen, Indian MSMEs needed to take advantage of new technologies.

The minister declared that the government's mission was to raise the MSME sector's contribution to GDP growth to 40% from the current 30% and increase its share in India's exports to 60% from the current 48%. He said that the MSMEs were the key to increasing GDP of the rural and the tribal areastribal areas.

On technology upgrade and adoption, the minister said that Indian enterprises and research organizations needed to upgrade domestic technologies and also source technology from foreign research institutes through joint ventures. He said that a lot of research in India was conducted by the defence labs, such as DRDO, and they needed to share their technology with common people.

To increase exports, India's MSMEs must align with technological changes introduced by the government, especially in the automobile sector, the minister said. He pointed out that while the government was prioritizing electric vehicles, the country was dependent on imports for components. "We have to develop vendors for e-vehicles."

Gadkari pointed out that Amazon was exporting products of Indian MSMEs worth Rs 70,000 crore, which included handlooms, handicraft and honey etc.

"We need to present and market in a proper way in international market," he said.

Highlighting the government's mission of import substitution, Gadkari said that India could substitute the import of Rs 8 lakh crore of petroleum with ethanol made from sugar cane, rice and corn, which were surplus in the country.

"To meet the need of ethanol on such a scale, he suggested creating mills that directly made ethanol instead of sourcing it from sugar mills," he added.

He also pointed out that the market price of corn was Rs 1,000 per quintal compared to the government's MSP of Rs 1700 because of surplus output.

"We can make the Rs 25,000 crore ethanol industry a Rs 2 lakh crore industry and we can create employment opportunities in rural areas," the minister said.

Dr JS Juneja, Chairman MSMEs and Past President, AIMA requested the minister to accept the suggestion of the Prabhat Kumar Committee for creation of an MSME Innovation Fund of Rs 1000 crore and sanction the amount promptly.