Mumbai, 28 June 2024: The Maharashtra Government is upbeat about the startup sector and in the near future it wants to the number of startups to grow to 50,000. It has decided to give first class treatment to the companies’ right from MSME to large corporates, said Hon’ble Shri Uday Samant Minister for Industries Government of Maharashtra at an ASSOCHAM event.

Addressing the delegates at ASSOCHAM MahaMSMErashtra Empowerment Summit and Award 2024, Shri Samant said, “The Union Government recently issued a list of startups in the last two years, out of which 8,300 are in Maharashtra, making it the number one state in the country. The State Government is very positive about these developments and in the future it wants to take this number to 50,000.”

“When startups get launched, it is also important to monitor whether they continue to operate or they have closed down. An analysis on the health of startups and the challenges faced by them needs to be undertaken.” said Samant.

“Earlier the companies, which used to get overseas investments in Maharashtra were given red carpet treatment but today we are also giving red carpet treatment to even those companies which make Rs 50,000 investment. Today, compared to other states Maharashtra’s top position in attracting foreign investment is due to first class treatment to companies’ right from MSMEs to large corporates,” he added.

Talking about the various initiatives undertaken by the government to strengthen the MSME sector, Mr. Rajendra Nimbalkar, IAS, Managing Director, Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (MSSIDC) said, “The Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (MSSIDC) has submitted strategic investment plan worth more than 730 crores under the Government of India’s Raising and Accelerating MSME Productivity (RAMP) Programme. We received about more than 212.5 crores approval which is the highest budget allocation under RAMP. The state government will also contribute equal amounts making this programme size for the next 3 to 4 years will be about 425 crores. This fund will be utilized to provide subsidized space and build online marketing and digital marketing capacity to the MSMEs. We will also set up Business Facilitation Centers in 12 district headquarters across the state. Capacity building and marketing promotions of MSMEs will also be undertaken under the program for which around 20 crores have been allocated.”

Giving the industry perspective on the MSME sector, Shri Anurag Agrawal, Co-Chair, Assocham National Council on WTO, Trade and Investment Council and Executive President-Strategic Initiatives & International Business of Polycab India Ltd, said, “With 17% of nation’s GDP, the manufacturing sector plays a very vital role in Indian economy. The government hopes to have 25% of the economy’s output coming from manufacturing sector by 2025. India is on its way to becoming the global manufacturing hub with the sector poised to reach $1 trillion by 2025-26 and $1 trillion in export revenues by 2030. There are almost 63 million MSMEs across the country contributing about 30% to the GDP. These MSMEs also generate employment opportunity and contribute to exports. With a strong synergy of government initiatives and industry participation, our target of achieving 5 trillion-dollar economy is not far away.”

While talking about the real growth model in the MSME sector, Shantanu Bhadkamkar, Chairman, Assocham, Maharashtra State Development Council (MSDC), said “People talk about Germany because it is the official policy of Germany and that it is the small and middle enterprise that’s the backbone of Germany, not the big companies. They take tax from these small companies, if not just because of employment, but because they are source of technological development. The cutting-edge technologies come from these small and middle size enterprises. But what is less known is the Italian

SME sector. In Italy they have SME sector which is as old as hundred years or around 200 years. They are very strong in technology and they are even stronger in fashion and all kind of creativity. The interesting part and one message I would like to give is their organizational structure and we have one such case study in Harvard Business School of Italy, creative company that is spaghetti structure.

While offering the closing comments, Umesh Kamble, Co-Chair, Assocham, Maharashtra State Development Council (MSDC), said “We have the dream of Maharashtra state achieving a 1 trillion-dollar economy and the MSME sector will be a game changer. I feel enhancing the finance and innovation will play a key role in for the MSME sector. Only innovation can make the change which a lot of MSMEs are not focusing on and I think the government of Maharashtra is focusing more on the evolution that they had started with lot of innovation centers.”