Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has provided the first approval under SIDBI Cluster Development Fund (SCDF) to Government of Tamil Nadu in a special event held at the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
The in-principle approval letter was handed over by Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director, SIDBI, in the presence of M. K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Finance, Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Industries and T. M. Anbarasan, Minister for Rural Industries.
The project specific moderately priced loan assistance under SCDF will be extended by SIDBI to State Government for upgrading various existing MSME clusters and for developing new industrial infrastructural facilities in the State of Tamil Nadu.
Sivasubramanian Ramann said, “The thrust shall be laid on clusters in sectors/subsectors which can directly benefit the MSMEs in the state and to bring them to a level ‘NEXT’ wherein they emerge vibrant, higher on the value chain and become sustainable.”
“SIDBI shall complement these with its customized direct lending products being channelized in the supported clusters, setting an example for other institutions to adopt and replicate. On need basis SIDBI shall also examine supporting the soft infrastructure issues in select clusters relating to technology, skilling/upskilling, energy efficiency, market and credit connect. A pilot has been launched in Ambattur leather cluster,” he added.
The expert committee on MSMEs headed by U.K. Sinha has recommended a more focused engagement of SIDBI with State Governments for MSME development and promotion including use of Priority Sector Shortfall (PSS) funds to create a low-cost lending window for State Governments for infrastructure projects in clusters.
Accordingly, SIDBI has set up Project Management Units (PMUs) in 11 states namely, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu.
The PMUs in co-ordination with SIDBI and State Governments have given policy/scheme inputs on Innovation Voucher Programme scheme, New Entrepreneur cum Enterprise Development Scheme, undertaken rapid profiling of migrant labors options for entrepreneurship in PMU States etc.
SCDF has been setup with support of RBI to support the hard infrastructure facilities in clusters pan India. The fund is envisaged to support setting up, upgrading and renovation of MSME infrastructure in areas other than agriculture.
The major sectors include industrial and agri-allied sectors in the MSME eco-space, social sector projects in and around MSME clusters and connectivity to MSME Clusters.
