THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries Minister P Rajeeve defended in the assembly on Monday the department’s claim of starting more than one-lakh new Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the current financial year under the ‘Year of Enterprises’ initiative.
He said that under the programme, 1,34,558 new ventures, which brought over Rs 8,000 crore investments and over 2,88,000 job opportunities, were started in the state till March 1.
However, the Opposition MLAs challenged Rajeeve’s claim. They alleged the number is exaggerated and the department even included existing institutions in the list of new ventures. The minister then admitted that there could be odd instances where the department made errors and such anomalies could be rectified. He said the department has already made a fact sheet based on the mismatches pointed out from various quarters.
“The programme resulted in increasing the confidence of the entrepreneurs. We could create an ecosystem favourable for doing business in the state. All the MLAs have shown great support for the programme. A national meet chaired by the Prime Minister considered the programme as a ‘best practice’ in the sector,” said Rajeeve.
He pointed out that the industrial sector has grown 17.3% as per the latest Economic Review. The department would start initiatives to support the entrepreneurs by marketing their products through ration and Consumer fed shops, from the next fiscal.