The first meeting of the task force chaired by Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary T K A Nair included Planning Commission Member Arun Maira, Labour Secretary PC Chaturvedi and Secretary MSME Dinesh Rai.

The meeting was also attended by State Bank of India Chairman O P Bhatt, who said while the task force reviewed the problems of financing faced by the small businesses, “no targets have been set.”

MSME Secretary Dinesh Rai said the government gives importance to the sector and the taskforce has identified the issues of credit, labour, marketing and infrastructure as key to the sector. Sub-committees have been formed to look into various areas identified, Rai said, adding the panels would submit its report within 30 days.

These sub-committees would be represented by the concerned department and industry association members, said D E Ramakrishnan President of an industry association IFRASTE.  The industry representatives have been demanding that banks be given specific credit targets for the MSMEs and the share of micro units should be increased from present level of 4.9 per cent to 6 per cent of the banks’ priority sector lending. Also, the industry has asked the government to fix 20 per cent procurement target by public sector units.

The MSME sector is also seeking bank loans at par with the farm sector or at less than 8 per cent.

There are about 2.61 crore MSME in the country which contribute 40 per cent in India’s exports.