Imphal: Launching the Manipur State Credit Guarantee Scheme (MCGS), Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that Manipur is just after Assam among the Northeast states and top among the small states in the number of registrations of Micro, Small, and medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The scheme aims to encourage first-generation entrepreneurs to venture into self-employment opportunities by facilitating credit guarantee support for collateral-free/third-party guarantee-free loans to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs), especially in the absence of collaterals.
The state has a total of 51,199 registrations including 50,658 for micro, 519 for small, and 22 for medium. He stated that MSMEs are very suitable in Manipur, with its people’s eagerness to work and take up new activities.
The function was organized by the Planning Department, Government of Manipur at Hotel Imphal, with Singh as the Chief Guest on Thursday.
The scheme was launched with the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), set up by the Ministry of MSME, the Government of India, and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
During the programme, cheques of loans and loan sanction letters sanctioned by different banks were handed over to beneficiaries under the One Family One Livelihood Scheme and Manipur State Credit Guarantee Scheme. A promotional film of CGTMSE was also showcased.
Mentioning that earlier banks asked for collaterals or securities for providing loans to borrowers, he informed that now the government is giving the guarantee under its Credit Guarantee Scheme.
Continuing that SIDBI would be sanctioning an amount of around Rs. 700 crore in the next five years and cited that if this opportunity is harnessed optimally, around 28,000 employments can be generated in these five years to come.
Employment generation is an important factor for economic growth, he added.
Highlighting the benefit the scheme could provide to the displaced persons staying at various relief camps, he informed that a loan amount of Rs. 50,000 would be provided to the beneficiaries, as an initial stage, for carrying out any activities for earning.
Training for earning livelihood activities and marketing platforms for their products would be provided to the displaced people.
As such, there would be no financial and marketing problems, he added. He continued that, with training, the displaced people would become experts in a specific activity and would facilitate in availing the benefit of Rs. 10 lakh under the One Family One Livelihood scheme of the State Government, once they return to their original places.
Singh, while stating that there were habits of non-repayment of loans amongst the people of the state earlier, stated that people now began to realize the opportunity of getting a bigger amount of loan, if they repay back on time. He also expressed the importance of discipline and maintaining one’s culture and tradition to succeed in any field we enter.