New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS): The government said on Monday that its ‘Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance' (RAMP) scheme, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022, has benefitted 4 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises to date.

RAMP aims to benefit 5.5 lakh MSMEs during the five-year implementation period, from 2022-23 to 2026-27.

Since its launch, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has claimed reimbursement of 46 per cent of the total World Bank assistance of $500 million, informed Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shobha Karandlaje, in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The scheme aims to scale up the implementation capacity and coverage of MSMEs, with impact enhancement of existing schemes by fostering innovation, encouraging ideation, improving practices and processes, enhancing market access, and scaling up guarantees to women-owned micro and small enterprises, etc.

The percentage of women-owned MSMEs registered on the Udyam and Udyam Assist Platform (UAP) in the country stands at 38.75 per cent.

As of July 30, the number of women-owned MSMEs registered on Udyam and UAP in the country was 1,85,09,811, Karandlaje said.

The Minister also informed that the share of exports of MSME-specified products in all-India exports stood at 45.73 per cent in FY24.

The Ministry of MSME has established 60 export facilitation centres (EFCs) across the country with an aim to provide requisite mentoring and handholding support to them.

The government has also taken many steps to facilitate access to credit to MSMEs.

Collateral free loan of up to Rs 500 lakh to Micro and Small Enterprises, with a guarantee coverage of up to 85 per cent for various categories of loan, is provided under the Credit Guarantee Scheme.

Since the inception of the scheme, 91.76 lakh guarantees were approved involving an amount of Rs 6.78 lakh crore (till June 30), the Minister said.

Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a loan of up to Rs 50 lakh for the manufacturing sector and Rs 20 lakh for the service sector is provided.

Since its inception, more than 9.69 lakh micro enterprises have been assisted with a margin money subsidy of over Rs 25,500 crore, providing employment to an estimated 79 lakh people, the Minister said.