January 12, 2015: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign has given a motivation to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as they will pledge to invest an amount of over one trillion during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit (VGGIS), which is scheduled to be held soon. The number of MSMEs has totalled to as high as 18,000, which equals the number of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) signed in the last three editions of the summit held in 2009, 2011 and 2013 respectively.
The investment proposals are being handled by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Industries Commissione. According to a quote given by a senior government official on condition of anonymity, the average investment is expected to be about 60 to 70 millions, totalling to a mammoth amount of one trillion for the state. The number of MSMEs in Gujarat as on March 2014, as per the data available with the state government, is 261,000. Between 2010 and 2014, 500 billions were invested in the state, generating employment for 1.39 million people.
Commenting on this healthy growth in the MSME sector, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce (GCCI) MSME committee chairman and president of Gujarat Chemical Association Jaimin Vasa said, “Gujarat government’s policy is favourable to small and medium scale industry. The government has also helped small industries in providing infrastructure facilities. The recent announcements of incentives in the new industrial policy has encouraged many small and medium enterprises in the state.”