Need Government Intervention To Support MSME Sector: FICCI President

Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI urged the government to support the MSME sector which has been severely impacted by Covid-19.

Addressing a FICCI webinar jointly with UNDP, Facebook, Josh Talks and Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship, she said that the world has changed due to the crisis and we must focus on preserving the jobs and businesses.

"There are around 110 million people in MSMEs who are affected due to Covid-19. We need to give them interest free, collateral free loans and guaranteed by the government. For companies with less than Rs 500 crores turnover, this should be given for minimum 6 months and hopefully for 12 months," said Dr Reddy.

She added that the current crisis is a big opportunity for MSMEs and it will be helpful only if MSMEs survive. "MSME sector needs envision, partner, train, handholding, and support which will help create a vibrant sector. The entrepreneurship, skillset and hard work of this sector are India's biggest strength and we should ride on that strength," Dr Reddy added.

Mr Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, GAME said that many of the companies have started adapting to the crisis so better run companies are taking all prudent steps. "Post crisis, these companies will emerge more resilient."

He added that capital is going to be precious and we need to protect workers. "We need to use this crisis into opportunity in order to start businesses. We need to create massive wave of entrepreneurship," said Mr Venkatesan.

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