Kolkata: The state government has decided to increase credit lending by 20 per cent to the MSME units in the current financial year to make them number one in the country and provide huge employment opportunities to the youth.
Currently, the MSME units in Bengal rank second in the country.
The state government has proposed to give Rs 1.10 lakh crore loan to the MSME units in the current financial year. It was learnt that 34 per cent of the proposed loan amount has been disbursed already.
In 2020-21 financial year, the credit lending was Rs 87,000 crore and in 2019-20 it was Rs 70,000 crore.
After coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave special thrust on the MSME units in the state. If the MSME is rejuvenated, the financial health of the state will improve and job opportunity will go up. The state government has prepared land banks and as the infrastructure in the districts has improved, the scope of setting up new MSME units is enormous, said a senior state government official.
He hoped that the way the state government has taken steps to provide financial assistance to the MSME units, in future not too distant, they will be number one in the country.
Recently, during an event, the Chief Minister said as many as 90 lakh MSME units are currently based in West Bengal employing 1.36 crore people.
"West Bengal has excelled in the MSME sector under the leadership of Banerjee. The government of West Bengal has set a benchmark in holistic development!" said Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress party in a tweet.
According to statistics, the highest density of MSMEs in West Bengal was in Kolkata (54,442) followed by North 24-Parganas (43,107), South 24-Parganas (25,527), Howrah (24,037), and Hooghly (20,189), etc.