Guwahati, Aug 21 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government has earmarked around Rs 1,000 crore for implementation of various schemes for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) in the Northeast region during the current financial year, said an official on Monday.

Director of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise - Development Institute, M Sreenivasulu, told the media here that MSMEs are significantly present in all states and Union Territories and are the second-largest employer after agriculture in the country.

He said that in spite of the various welfare schemes being run by the Ministry of MSME, it has been found that there is a lack of awareness of the schemes at the grassroot level and this has prevented the benefits from reaching the target beneficiaries.

Sreenivasulu said that the institute is primarily engaged in implementation of various schemes of the Union Ministry of MSME towards encouragement of self-employment amongst unemployed youths as well as promotion and development of MSME sector in the region.

"The basic objectives of the schemes are to alleviate poverty and unemployment by setting up micro and small-scale manufacturing, service or business enterprises. It also aims to develop existing MSME units to grow further by way of financial benefits for enhancement of GDP and export turnover of the country," he said.

He also said that that the schemes of the Ministry are central sector schemes in which specific percentage of the budgetary allocation are earmarked for SCs, STs and northeastern region's population.