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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that micro, small and medium industries (MSME) will play an important role in realising the vision to transform India into a developed nation by 2047. Therefore, she said, they have been given special priority in the Union Budget.

The finance minister was addressing the discussion programme with MSME marble cluster units in Udaipur. She also informed that dialogue programmes are planned to be conducted with 250 MSME clusters across the country, starting today with the Marble Cluster in Udaipur. She said that Small Industries Development Bank (SIDBI) is now providing loans directly to micro industries, which is a matter of great relief. With this, convenient loans will be easily available to micro industries.

MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said the MSME sector has a major contribution to eliminating unemployment. He added ‘Micro and small industries are the backbone of India's economy, which contributes 30 per cent to the country's economy and provides employment to 20 crore people.’

He said that while the rate of global economic progress is 3.2 per cent, India is growing at 7 per cent. He said that by paying special attention only to micro industries, the country can be taken to the category of developed countries.