Banks should be reasonable towards genuine traders: MSME Minister

Bhubaneswar: Union MSME Minister Pratap Sarangi on Sunday urged the banking industry to be reasonable towards genuine traders.

Attending an event organized by Odisha Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME) here, Sarangi said traders’ community eases government’s effort on employment and job creation.

“They provide thousands of jobs and livelihood to people. All traders are not like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. All are not leaving countries by siphoning funds of banks. Few traders need just time to repay the debt. Banks should be reasonable towards genuine traders. They should be provided enough time if they already repaid large part of the total debt,” he added.

Highlighting the importance of MSME of economic growth of the country, he said, “Contribution of MSME industry to manufacturing is 45%, to export is 20% and contribution to GDP of the country is 28%. This the second largest sector after agriculture on job creation. If MSME sector suffers then it impacts the economy of the country.”

He urged OASME to arrange reach out programmes in different parts of the state and provide helping hands to hundreds of youth of Odisha to fulfill their dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

Odisha Industries Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra informed that Keshinga of Western Odisha will have special SME cluster soon.

Two SME clusters have been planned for the state, which will go to operational very soon, he added.

 The Minister also urged the Government of India to announce special packages for cyclone Fani affected SME industries of the state.

Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal discussed about the environment protection and human life during industrialization.

This is the need of the hour to save the planet from environmental threats and ecological imbalances, said the Governor.