VIJAYAWADA: With around 25 lakh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) that employ about 70 lakh people in the State and contribute 40 per cent of exports across various sectors, the Andhra Pradesh State government is laying a special focus for development of sector.
To support MSMEs, the government has implemented several measures. Among these is preferential market access for MSMEs in government procurements, the extended ReSTART package during the lockdown, and the YSR Navodayam programme, which restructured the accounts of 1.78 lakh MSMEs worth over Rs 7,976 crore (USD 1 Billion). A number of incentives are also being provided under the YSR Jagananna Badugu Vikasam Policy and the Industrial Development Policy for MSMEs.
Andhra Pradesh’s MSME sector manufactures a wide range of products, with the majority of micro and small units active in industries such as agriculture and food processing, aqua processing, automotive, textiles, minerals, granite, leather, fabricated materials, construction material, and so on. The state government is assisting MSMEs by providing training to improve skill sets, fiscal incentives, preferential market access, and enabling an export ecosystem through initiatives.
According to the department officials, while 52 clusters are proposed to be established during fiscal 2022-23 at a rate of two clusters per district, the state has set a target of grounding 100 clusters over the next two years. The State is building a tech entrepreneurial ecosystem by the promotion of incubation centres under the aegis of Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society, a nodal agency set up to spearhead the start-up activities in the State and promote budding entrepreneurs amongst universities and colleges.
APIS with the support of the State government has developed incubators spread over 51,213 sq.ft in the innovation valley at Visakhapatnam, 6,500 sq.ft in incubation tower at Kakinada, 2,300 sq.ft in Vijayawada and 6,300 sq.ft in Tirupati.