“Government is very positive and has faith & trust in the industry. We are bringing improvements as per suggestions of industry and request for more recommendations. Government is investor friendly and wants to support industry for employment, growth and exports”, said Shri Nitin Gadkari Honorable Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Shipping and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. He was speaking at Confederation of Indian Industry's National Conference held in New Delhi. The present government is constantly striving to usher in more reforms. The industry has to be the government's partner in this journey of growth, he further added.

“MSME sector has great potential for growth and improve India's employment potential. A decision has been taken to invite corporates in industrial clusters, where they were banned earlier. We have to make 700 clusters and provide them with land, power and incentives, and to achieve this, we would need the support of the private sector”, said Shri Nitin Gadkari. We need to move from import substitution to export promotion and this could lead to further progress of MSMEs, he added. The sectors which are facing stress currently like real estate should be taken care of first and helped to pull them out of their current predicament.

“We will encourage large enterprises to build an ecosystem of ancillaries and vendors so that MSME can produce at home. Government will support export of goods that MSME can produce, engage in skill development by building ITIs in all areas”, stressed Shri Gadkari. Permissions will be given in a time-bound fashion owing to which the private sector will be greatly encouraged to engage with the MSMEs, he added.

The Minister underlined that Roads & Highway sector had contributed 1.7% to GDP, while investments in the shipping sector had touched Rs 16 lakh crore. He was of the view that we would want to emulate similar progress in the MSME sector as well and make the sector more investor friendly.

The Minister stated that ensuring cheap and easy availability of capital is of prime importance. He highlighted that the road sector has been a bright spot in terms of seeing adequate sources of financing. The Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways was able to revive 483 stalled projects valued at Rs 3.85 lakh crores, thus preventing their conversion into NPAs. He further stressed on the need for finding innovative sources of financing other than banks, especially for the MSME sector and reducing the time for giving permissions on financing.

Stressing on the importance of rural and agri sector in India's growth and development, Shri Gadkari stated that this sector needs to be encouraged to adopt new technology and adopt newer and innovative methods such as organic farming. Besides the urban areas, the industry should also focus and give ideas on social-economic transformation of rural areas.