Parul
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has joined hands with the Meghalaya government to develop an ecosystem for small and medium businesses. SIDBI has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Meghalaya Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Ltd (MiDFC) to develop the MSME ecosystem in the state, SIDBI said in a release.
SIDBI is the country’s principal financial institution for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Under the MoU, SIDBI and the state government will work closely to facilitate the development of the MSME ecosystem in Meghalaya.
As per the MoU’s few broad objectives, SIDBI will aid in entrepreneurship development in the state; development of MSME clusters; capacity building of NGOs/development organisations/ MSMEs; support and showcase replicable livelihood projects aligned to the priority identified by the state among others.
The MoU will also work towards expanding digital offerings for MSMEs in the state; mapping state-specific livelihood opportunities through expert consultants and extension of promotion and developmental initiatives of SIDBI in the state. It will also help in building the capacity of MSMEs using online platforms PSB 59, Mitra portals, GeMS, TReDS, initiating business information and counselling centres for micro-enterprises among others.
Satya Venkata Rao, DMD, SIDBI said the agency is actively undertaking a number of developmental activities for the benefit of the artisans and MSMEs of the state for enterprises promotion, livelihood and skill development. He said priority target segments will be school dropouts, skilled but unemployed, unemployed needing skills, migrants during COVID, unserved/underserved segments among others.
Rao also urged the state government to use the low-cost finance available for the development of the MSME infrastructure in the state under the SIDBI Cluster Development Fund (SCDF).
