Data-bank to gather information on small and medium enterprises to be launched

New Delhi, August 11: Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister will launch a data bank to gather information about micro, small and medium enterprises.

MSME Secretary K.K. Jalan has said that a census of MSMEs online will be for the first time carried out through the data bank, adding this will help save money as the previous census conducted in 2008 cost Rs. 50 crore, whereas this one is expected to be completed in just Rs. one crore.

“We will also be capturing data of MSME Associations,” he said.

The MSME Secretary further said the census process will start formally tomorrow with the launch of the data bank. Six online finance facilitation centers will be opened tomorrow in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Guwahati, Lucknow, Peenya and Delhi.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (M/o MSME) was formed by the merging of former Ministry of Small scale Industries and the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries through an amendment of the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.

The apex body is a branch of the Government of India responsible for the formulation and administration of rules, regulations and laws relating to micro, small and medium enterprises in India.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector is believed to be an industry with immense potential with over 6000 products and contributing to almost eight-percent of the GDP. More than 40 percent of the country’s exports and 45 percent of the total manufacturing output is believed to be contributed by the sector alone.