GUWAHATI, Nov 22 - Chief Minister Sarbananada Sonowal today stressed the need for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector to play a crucial role in making India a five trillion-dollar economy by the year 2024.
Inaugurating the two-day North East MSME Summit for SC and ST entrepreneurs at the Maniram Dewan Trade Centre here, Sonowal said that considering the MSMEs being the prime drivers of growth with equity and their contribution to output and employment in all economies, developed as well as transitional, it could play a key role in making India�s economy one of the biggest in the world.
He added that the MSME sector is a critical component of India�s growth story, making significant contributions to the GDP, employment and exports.
He said the total contribution of MSMEs to the GDP is around 38 per cent and that with around 95 per cent of all industrial units forming a part of the sector, they form a cornerstone for economic prosperity in society.
Sonowal thanked the Ministry of MSME and CII for organising the summit, which, according to him, would help the youth of the Northeast, especially the entrepreneurs, to empower themselves.
The Chief Minister requested the ministry to generate awareness about the facilities created by the MSME sector to help the sector empower the human resources of the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for MSMEs Pratap Chandra Sarangi said that though there were diversities, the country was driven by a common goal of development and maintained that the MSME sector could propel that common goal to facilitate all-round development.
He said the entrepreneurs associated with food processing, handloom, tea, bamboo, fishery, organic farming, etc., held immense potential, as value addition to the products from those sectors could create good avenues of industrialisation.
The Union minister maintained that after agriculture, MSME is the second important sector in which maximum number of people are involved.
