Bid to promote small, medium enterprises

PATNA: The BIhar state office of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Thursday organised an interactive session on financing options for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). CII's Bihar council deputy chairman S K Singh, in his welcome address on the occasion, said special attention should be given to SMEs in Bihar to make it grow at the requisite rate. SIDBI's eastern region chief general manager N K Maini, who was the chief guest, said SIDBI will have to play a different role in Bihar than the ones it plays in other states. "It has to be a hand-holding role for development of entrepreneurship in the state," he said. Maini said SIDBI has already advanced Rs 700 crore as loan to Bihar. He asked the CII to hold entrepreneurship development programmes in the state. SMERA's Sripad Raj Upadhyay said in Indian economy, SMEs account for 40 per cent of production and contribute to 40 per cent of exports. "The reasons behind the banks not lending in Bihar should be ascertained and conditions in the state must be made conducive for facilitating borrowing," he said. He also said that enterprises should come forward to get their ratings from SMERA. "This will help them get capital at cheaper rate from banks," he said. During the discussion, women entrepreneurs in the state were urged to come together and form credit guarantee groups so that they contribute to the development of the state.

The meet was informed that SIDBI was trying to set 100 grassroots-level
micro finance units in Bihar.