UNISAME DEMANDS BIG IMPACT STEPS FOR SME GROWTH

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) invited the attention of the planning commission (PC) to the urgent requirement of big impact actions for growth of the small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and complained that the government is taking baby steps which is not stimulating the economy. Big impact actions are the need of the hour to accelerate growth of the sector.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver informed the PC that the SME policy was devised in 2007 and needs revision. He expressed the need to revisit the SME policy as several dimensions have been left unexplored. There is urgent need to begin work from the primary sector which is the source for raw material and exactly what the SME policy envisaged. The SME policy 2007 also outlined plans for the promotion of the manufacturing, trading and services sectors and targeted them for growth.

He enumerated the big impact actions and urged the PC to install a credit guarantee scheme to make the banks comfortable in financing the SMEs. The commercial banks need to be indemnified against defaults.

Secondly the sector needs an export house for marketing support for goods manufactured by the sector. The SME export house would introduce the SMEs to global buyers through SME tools such as galleries, online presence and e-commerce. It is very important to educate the SMEs to have their websites and exploring global markets.

Thirdly the sector needs incentives and the PC needs to recommend the introduction of ” Pay as you earn schemes” for enabling the entrepreneurs to buy shops, offices, workshops , machinery and equipment also raw material on easy installments.

UNISAME reiterated its demands for SME specific bank, technical institute, chamber of commerce of SMEs and SME ombudsman and considered these demands as big impact steps necessary for rapid growth of the sector.

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