UNISAME URGES GOVERNMENT TO MAKE SME FRIENDLY POLICIES TO FACILITATE THE SECTOR

Lahore – The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has invited the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) to propose specific recommendations regarding taxation, tariffs, regulations, trade related and other issues for developing a set of recommendations for the forthcoming trade policy and budget for the devolopment of the SME sector.

Mairaj Anees Arif general manager policy and planning (GM-P&P) SMEDA has requested Zulfikar Thaver president UNISAME to highlight the issues and send proposals and recommendations for the development of the micro and SME sector.

Thaver on behalf of himself and the SME council of UNISAME invited the attention of the GM-P&P SMEDA to impress upon the policy makers to seriously consider the urgent requirements of the sector and remove the impediments to SME growth.

The main issues are the access to finance, uninterrupted supply of energy, landed cost of raw materials, high cost of land, lack of information, lack of marketing support, logistics and technological gap.

Thaver emphasized that the policy must be SME friendly and facilitate, support, encourage and also motivate the sector.

He said banking, insurance, leasing and logistics are the pillars and policy must make doing business easy for the SMEs and also reduce the cost of doing business.

A start up fund is needed to provide seed money to the new entrants, bridge financing for the existing units and long term financing for modernization.

Land in industrial zones are required on easy instalments and commercial property leasing to enable SMEs buy shops, workshops, warehouses and factories,
The much talked about Exim Bank, the specific SME Bank, Joint Venture Capital Fund, Credit Insurance, Export Bureau/SME Gallery, Chamber of Commerce for SMEs are urgently needed and delay in their set up is causing setback to the sector.

The agrobased industries need to be upgraded and technological support is required for value addition education.

Alternate energy devices namely solar, wind and biomass installations must be subsidized to enable the SMEs to install them.
SMEDA needs to be strengthened and revamped to increase its efficiency and out reach.

The Turkish model proposed for SMEDA needs to be adopted to make SMEDA a meaningful authority on modern lines.

The Union chief appreciated the efforts of SMEDA and urged the government to make it an institution of high calibre and proficiency for SME promotion and development as in advanced countries of the world.

UNISAME will be submitting the proposals to SMEDA for onward recommendations to the ministries of commerce, finance and industries for consideration.

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