Business-Govt to launch portal for marketing of goods by MSMEs, Khadi

The government is in the process of launching a portal for the marketing of goods made by MSMEs and khadi industry on the lines of Chinese e-commerce portal Alibaba and USA's Amazon, MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari said Wednesday in the Lok Sabha. He said the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contribute about 29 per cent to the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the government is taking steps to significantly increase that.

"We have fixed the target to increase the share of MSME to 50 per cent of GDP in the next five years," he said, adding the sector would also add 15 crore jobs. On this target, it was heard that some opposition members raised their voice about previous such targets which were not met.

On this, Gadkari said they can question this target, if he would not meet it. "Like we have achieved all targets of the road ministry, we would achieve this also," Gadkari said. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that if members want half an hour discussion on steps being taken by the government on the MSME sector, he would allow that. He said countries like China have pushed their growth by strengthening the MSME sector and India is also focusing on that.

He said problems being faced by the MSMEs include cost of credit, marketing of products, labour issues, management issues, and cost of working capital. The ministry is working with different stakeholders to resolve these issues, he said. "On the cost of credit, we are talking with the ADB and the World Bank. We did a meeting with them," he said. Alibaba and Amazon provide a big global platform for MSME players, so based on this "we are working to launch a marketing website for MSMEs and khadi industry," he said. Citing an example, he said through this portal a beekeeper can sell his/her product to any part of the world..

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