Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Support and Outreach Initiative for the MSME sector. Photo: Press Information Bureau, Government of India.

New measures to facilitate small-scale entrepreneurship

In early November, the Indian government launched twelve new measures to encourage entrepreneurship and facilitate for businesses in the sector that generates the highest number of jobs after the agricultural sector. The initiative aims to increase credit and market access, liberalize labour law and simplify for companies to work in accordance with environmental legislation.

One measure is that state-owned companies now have to be funded to 25 percent by MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), three percent of which should be led by women. An additional initiative is a new loan portal for MSMEs where companies can apply for loans up to 10 million rupees (1.2 million SEK) in 59 minutes, which can be compared with the previous application period of 25 to 30 days. The loan will then be disbursed within one week.