Calling India as probably the most beneficial vacation spot for overseas funding, Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari, on Tuesday urged foreign investors to reap rich dividends by investing in the country’s infrastructure- MSMEs, NBFCs, banks, and other sectors.
Addressing the India Idea Summit organised by the US-India Business Council, jointly with the US Chamber of Commerce, the minister said in a statement, “We need to create more jobs. Without that, we cannot solve the problem of poverty which is the most important agenda of the government. And for that, we need foreign investment especially in the MSMEs, NBFCs, banks and infrastructure.”
Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic as a temporary phase, Gadkari said the country was confident of winning the “economic war” and the government has taken a number of steps to overcome the crisis.
The minister informed the foreign investors that currently liquidity is the most important for the country’s economy. “Therefore, we are focusing on how we can develop MSMSE’s and their growth in India, with nearly 50 per cent of India’s exports coming from the sector. For the MSME industry, we have raised the investment limit significantly,” Gadkari said.
The investment bracket for micro-industries was earlier around Rs 25 lakhs, but now, it has been converted to Rs 1 crore. Previously, the investment was Rs 5 crores for the small scale industries, but now it is 10 crores. Similarly, the investment was Rs 10 crores for medium-scale industries, and now it has been increased to 50 crores.
“In the present world economic situation, India is the fastest-growing economy. We have a big market, skilled manpower such as doctors and engineers. Now we are also increasing the skilled manpower. Therefore, because of these investments majority of industries will be getting the benefit. And now we are trying our best to develop the MSMEs and their growth in India,” he added.
In the current financial state of affairs, around 30 per cent contribution to the nation’s gross home product (GDP) comes from MSMEs, 48 per cent of exports are from the identical sector. “Until now, the MSMEs have created over 11 crore jobs and so we need more FDIs to pump in liquidity into the market,” he added further.
