New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in Rajya Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

With an allocation of ₹22,137.95 crores in the interim budget 2024, the Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) sector will see establishment of more clusters and new technology centres.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech, “It is an important policy priority for our Government to ensure timely and adequate finances, relevant technologies and appropriate training for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to grow and also compete globally.”

While the allocation for the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, which was launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, has reduced to ₹ 10,162.92 crores from ₹14,000 crores last financial year, establishment of new technology centres has allocation of ₹450 crores, Micro and Small Cluster Development Programme has ₹400 crores and the PM Vishwakarma scheme has got ₹4,824 crores. Allocation for the coir sector is also up marginally to ₹103.10 crores.

According to the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), the Budget “lays a strategic direction to address a few critical needs” of the MSME sector. The current financial architecture needs a revamp to serve green field manufacturing projects and fast growing MSMEs. In technology, the focus on resource efficient technologies and green technologies is another direction the government is alluding to.