Bhatti credits Cong govts for giving big boost to MSMEs

Hyderabad: Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu on Wednesday said that the past Congress governments were responsible for bringing MSMEs to Hyderabad.

Speaking in the launch programme of the MSME policy, the Finance Minister said that the previous Congress government brought institutions like DRDL, IDPL, and others, and because of such institutions, there are MSMEs in the city. He mentioned that while the MSMEs in other states were closing, the MSMEs in Hyderabad were doing good business. He listed out that over 1,000 MSMEs were closed in Gujarat, over 5,000 in Maharashtra, but in Telangana only 201 closed in recent times.

The Finance Minister said that the previous governments had allocated funds but never released them, but he assured that the Congress government would release these funds. He said that Rs 2,000 crore were earmarked for women’s, SC, and ST entrepreneurship. This may not be done all at once, but rather it will be done in a phase-wise manner, he added.

Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said the MSMEs have been contributing to the progress of the state for the last 70 years. He recalled that the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, stressed the need to fix the issues faced by MSMEs. Based on his suggestion, Revanth Reddy brought forth the MSME policy for the first time. For the Telangana economy, along with the manufacturing sector, service and retail were also important. The MSME policy will be as per demand and supply. “Many had doubts... We told them we are trying to bring a structural policy. We met industry representatives and many stakeholders and discussed on several occasions, got 20 suggestions, and formulated a policy for a robust atmosphere,” said Sridhar Babu, adding the policy was to provide equal opportunities.

The Minister wanted to focus on tier two or three cities. The target of a one trillion dollar economy will be achieved, he added.