NEW DELHI: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with the support of the INDIA EXIM Bank organized a Session on ‘Identifying Future Champions having export potential through UbharteSitaare scheme to boost India's Competitiveness’ on March, 22nd 2022.
The objective of the Session was to inform and educate the exporters on how to take benefit from the UbharteSitaare Scheme and to boost India's competitiveness in selected sectors via finance and providing handholding support who are unable to scale up their export operations due to lack of finance, having export potentials.
Mr. Nirmal Khandelwal, Chairman, Delhi Committee, PHD Chamber in his welcome address talked about the positive trend of GDP growth of India and the overall economic performance. The UbharteSitaare Scheme would help the MSMEs to get timely finance and technological assistance from time to time which would help them to compete in the global market.
Mr. Anil Verma, President, Delhi Exporter Association in his address, highlighted the positive aspects of the UbharteSitaare Scheme and put forward a suggestion to the implementing agencies – SIDBI and Export Import Bank of India to provide loans to the tiny exporters whose turnover is less than 5 crores so that the scheme benefits the actual targeted audience. He also mentioned that the Foreign Trade Agreements should be competitive enough to promote the MSMEs in international markets.
Mr. Raj Kumar Malhotra, Chairman, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts in his address, highlighted the importance of handicrafts sector which is the second-most largest sector just after agriculture. A large population of artisans are involved in handicrafts sector of which more than 75% of them are small exporters and remaining are medium or large exporters. The handicrafts sector is providing employment opportunity and also providing a platform to showcase their products in trade fairs and exhibitions both nationally and internationally.
Mr. Rahul Mazumdar, AGM, Export Import Bank of India in his address, discussed on the Production Linked Initiative Scheme (PLI) an initiative started by the Government of India to not only encourage foreign companies to find workforce in the country and thereby generate employment, but also encourage domestic and local production to create micro jobs. He also mentioned some of the upcoming industries which can prove to be beneficial for the MSMEs like Drones, Hi-tech industries, Toy industries, Audio-Visual Gaming industries, EV auto-components and EV cluster and Fintech companies having large potential in the domestic market.
Mr. Rupesh Sharma, AGM, Export Import Bank of India in his address, highlighted that the fund jointly sponsored by Export Import Bank of India and SIDBI, has a size of Rs. 250 crore with a green shoe option of Rs. 250 crore. The fund will invest by way of equity, and equity-like products, in export-oriented units, both in the manufacturing and services sectors. Further, he mentioned that the Finance Minister gave a breakup of Rs. 1000 crore of which Rs. 900 crore will be given as debts. Further, SIDBI and Exim Bank brought in Rs. 40 crore each and have developed an UbharteSitaare fund and Rs. 10 crore each from the two organisations has been assigned for grants. The programme will extend handholding support to them, eventually, pushing the country’s export and economic growth.
Mr. Javed Ahmad Siddiqui, DGM, SIDBI in his address, highlighted how the Finance Ministry has distributed the scheme to the two implementing agencies. The main objective of the UbharteSitaare Fund is that the Term Loan should be given to the export oriented MSMEs which could be the future champions for mordernisation, diversification and technological upgradation. He also gave insights on various other schemes of SIDBI such as ARISE & STHAPAN, AROG and STAR scheme.
