The number of jobs reported by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country has crossed the 27 crore mark. According to the data from the MSME Ministry’s Udyam portal, 6.29 crore MSMEs with Udyam registration have reported over 27 crore 34 thousand jobs since the launch of the portal in July 2020. The count has grown by around 45 per cent from approximately 18.5 crore jobs as of April last year.
The total job count includes 3.23 crore jobs reported via the government’s Udyam Assist Platform (UAP) by informal micro enterprises not registered under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Out of the remaining 23.7 crore jobs, 26 per cent share, with 6.25 crore jobs, has women employees in MSMEs.
To boost the MSME sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this week during her visit to Stanford University, part of her five-day US visit, said the government’s “next focus is reducing regulatory frictions, digitising approvals, and integrating MSMEs into global value chains.”
The minister said special support will be provided to women-led and rural enterprises to help enhance economic opportunities and ensure more inclusive growth.
Meanwhile, the MSME Ministry in its annual report every year continues to report the findings of the 73rd round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) during 2015-16, highlighting 11.10 crore jobs created by 6.33 crore MSMEs in India.
This included 3.60 crore jobs by MSMEs in the manufacturing sector, 7,000 jobs in the non-captive electricity generation and transmission, 3.87 crore in trade, and 3.62 crore in other services. In terms of enterprise type, 10.76 lakh jobs were reported to be created by micro-units, 31.95 lakh by small businesses, and only 1.75 lakh by medium businesses.
Importantly, in this year’s budget, the government has expanded the MSME definition for more enterprises to benefit from the existing MSME-related scheme including job creation.
From the 2020 revision in MSME definition, which capped investment in micro enterprises at Rs 1 crore and turnover at Rs 5 crore; Rs 10 crore investment and Rs 50 crore turnover in small enterprises; and Rs 50 crore investment and Rs 250 crore turnover in medium enterprises; the investment and turnover limits for micro units have been increased to Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 10 crore, Rs 25 crore and Rs 100 crore for small enterprises, and Rs 125 crore and Rs 500 crore for medium enterprises, respectively.