India : National Awards for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh gave away National Awards for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) at a function here. Following is the text of the speech of the Prime Minister on the occasion:
“I take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners of National Awards a this function. I commend my colleague Shri Mahabir Prasadji, and his Ministry, for instituting these awards.
A few months back, I was at an award ceremony for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Mumbai and I was greatly impressed by the tremendous achievements of those award winners as well.
I hope awards like these will encourage more and more of our entrepreneurs to strive harder and contribute to our country’s economic and social development.
The nominations for today’s awards and for the earlier Mumbai awards demonstrate that the small and medium enterprises sector in India has truly come into its own.
Gone are the days when the business limelight was reserved almost entirely for the captains in the corporate sector and SMEs remained in the shadows. India’s SME business leaders now stand proudly on their own feet. I affirm our Government’s solemn commitment to their growth and progress in years to come.
Micro and small enterprises provide employment to almost 41 million people in our country. Including the handloom and handicraft sector, the total employment provided by them is over 60 million. Hence, from the point of view of our people’s livelihood and well-being this sector is of tremendous importance.

The fact that SMEs are widely dispersed across the entire country also makes them highly important from a regional developmental perspective and as a means to promote balanced and equitable growth all over the country.
The SME sector has contributed to the growth of new industries as well as new industrial centres. There is no doubt that Governmental and institutional support provided to this sector through incentives, infrastructural facilities and other assistance has helped.
But what has really made a difference is the spirit of enterprise and creativity of our entrepreneurs in this sector. Nowhere is this spirit of enterprise, this willingness to take risk and an eagerness to strike out on one’s own to seek a fortune more in evidence than in our small and medium enterprises sector.
It is this animal spirit which makes the SME sector the most dynamic in our economy and worthy of our support and encouragement.
Our Government has shown a consistent commitment to the growth and welfare of small and medium enterprises. A significant contribution of our Government is the enactment of the ‘Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act’. It aims to improve the competitiveness of these enterprises and contribute to their healthy growth.
I hope the provisions of this Act will benefit all your firms in your business ventures. Our Government has also announced a comprehensive Package for the Promotion of Micro and Small Enterprises. This should also contribute to the realization of this objective.