Government plans aid for MSMEs forced to shut during pandemic

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Nov 29, 2021

The Central Government is formulating a plan to aid micro, small, and medium enterprises which were forced to close during the Covid-19 pandemic, including restarting closed factories to boost employment opportunities. 

“Our government is contemplating to help the micro, small and medium industries that were closed during the Corona period,” Union Minister Narayan Rane told the Press Trust of India on November 26. “I had raised this issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we have had a meeting regarding this. We will help them and get the closed factories [to] resume.”
 
By restarting operations in factories which had to close, the government will be able to create jobs as well as increase production and the country’s gross domestic product, said Rane on Friday. The move would be part of the Union Government’s wider goal of creating a self-reliant India. In order to achieve this goal, the government aims go increase domestic production, especially in industries where India has a trade deficit. 

As well as formulating plans to restart production in factories, the government is working through its various trade organisations to create new products using domestic resources. Rane recently launched an anti-bacterial cloth made from cow dung as the latest product for Khadi India with the aim of creating numerous products from the natural material in the future. The government’s Khadi and Village Industries Commission is also working on new product launches towards this aim.