New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS): The number of registered micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) increased from 1.65 crore to 5 crore in the last one year, the government informed on Tuesday, thus bridging a large gap in formalisation of MSMEs.

According to Dr Rajneesh, additional secretary and development commissioner, Ministry of MSME, several MSMEs needed to register with the government, and it was estimated that there were around 6.5-7 crore MSMEs in the economy and only 1.65 crore MSMEs were registered till last year with the government.

“The government started concerted drive jointly with state governments and industry associations. As on date, the total number of registered MSMEs with the ministry in more than 1 year has increased from 1.65 crore to 5 crore bridging the large formalisation gap,” he said during the ‘FICCI CMSME National Conference 2024’ here.

Dr Rajneesh also said that government has bridged the credit gap for MSMEs in last few years.

The ‘Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises’ (CGTMSE) is a body which is providing credit guarantees for MSMEs and helps in collateral free loans for MSMEs.

“In a span of 22 years, the cumulative credit guarantees extended by CGTMSE amount was Rs 2.6 lakh crore. But in last 2 years, we have been able to give credit guarantees worth of Rs 4 lakh crore and in the next two years, we intend to ramp it up to another Rs 5 lakh crore,” Dr Rajneesh informed.

He further stated that MSMEs contribute around 30 per cent to national GDP, 36 per cent to Indian manufacturing and around 44 per cent to Indian exports, along with providing 21 crore employment opportunities.

“After agriculture, MSMEs are the largest employer in the economy. MSMEs are a part of the story of India’s economic resilience,” he emphasised.

Chakravarthy T Kannan, Secretary General, Quality Council of India (QCI) said if India needs to be future-ready, then we also need to have several enablers including AI and innovation in order to help MSMEs build a strong future ready capability.

“ONDC is getting reconstituted, and we are also collaborating with them on how ONDC can become a platform for MSMEs with quality guarantee. Indian MSMEs are poised to grow multi-fold and QCI is eager to participate with the industry to be a part of the journey to Viksit Bharat,” he added.

Girish Luthra, President, FICCI-CMSME stressed on bringing the Japanese quality circles for all the MSMEs in the country.