Gadkari eyes Rs 10L-cr revenue from e-comm project

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the government's plan to launch Bharatcraft portal, an e-commerce marketing platform, has the potential to achieve revenues of around Rs 10 lakh crore in the 2-3 years.

"The Bharatcraft portal, which will be on the lines of Alibaba and Amazon, will provide a platform for MSMEs to market and sell their products and in turn boost the sector," Gadkari said.

Speaking at 200th listing of an MSME company 'Wonder Fibromats' on NSE EMERGE, Gadkari said, "We want to give a boost to the MSME sector which is currently contributing nearly 29 per cent to the manufacturing segment and 40 per cent to the exports."

The MSME sector has the potential to generate additional employment of 5 crore in the next five years. The government has set a target to increase the contribution of MSMEs in the manufacturing sector to 50 per cent in the next five years, he added.

Gadkari further said that payments have always been the issue for the MSMEs as the Government and public sectors delay their payments.

"A committee has been set up to study this aspect and we expect the report in the next few days. The government is planning to enable legislation framework, which would help the MSME sector get their payments faster, within 45 days of the bills being due. Any further delay in payments would lead to legal implications," the minister said.

He said the government will encourage MSMEs to contribute more towards exports, how they could contribute to overall economic growth and also enhance employment potential.

There was a need for the MSMEs to come in the mainstream and take advantage of the NSE platform for raising funds.

"At a time when we have nearly 6 crore MSMEs in the country, we have only 200 listings on such a platform. There are MSMEs who have larger exposure to exports. I want such companies to come forward and use this instrument. This will boost the sector," Gadkari said, adding that if small investors start investing in such platform, it will open a new gateway for development.

"Attaining finance from banks is difficult. Government acknowledges the efforts and initiatives taken by NSE to empower these small businesses and launch MSME-specific equity trading platform to enable them to raise capital. This can be an opportunity for MSMEs," he added.

Speaking at the event, NSE managing director and CEO Vikram Limaye said, "NSE has always been at the forefront of strengthening and supporting small and medium enterprises. We believe the SMEs are crucial not only for economic growth, but also for employment and inclusive growth."

The event also witnessed the migration of two SME companies Madhya Bharat Agro Products and Krishana Phoschem to the mainboard of NSE. The listed SMEs on NSE are from 16 states.

NSE EMERGE now has 200 companies listed on its SME platform, raising upwards of Rs 3,100 crore over a period of last seven years since its inception in 2012.

The market capitalization of these listed small and medium enterprises is in the region of Rs 8,800 crore, and 22 SMEs have over time migrated to the main board of NSE.