Government releases new draft PPP in MSMEs

New Delhi, Sept 18 (UNI) Government today announced a new draft Policy for Procurement Preference (PPP) under section of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act 2006.

According to an official release issued here, as per the new PPP for MSEs, the Central Government Ministries, its Departments, aided Institutions and PSUs under it shall procure at least 20 per cent of the value of their total annual purchases from Micro and Small Enterprises for the products or services produced and provided by such enterprises or National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) as supplier.

It added that at least 22.5 per cent of the purchases mentioned above will be procured by Central Government Ministries or Departments from MSEs owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes.

At least 10 per cent of purchases will be procured by the Central Government Ministries or Departments from such micro and small enterprises which are owned by women entrepreneurs. The Micro and Small Enterprises registered with NSIC under its Single Point Registration Scheme shall be entitled to various benefits and facilities like exemption from payment of earnest money, issue of tender sets free of cost.

Apart from this the existing reservation of 358 items for exclusive purchases from micro and small enterprises will be dispensed with. NSIC as supplier engaged in selling goods by Micro and Small Enterprises and rendering services which are provided by such enterprises would provide the required help in procuring and executing tenders for bulk supplies for micro and small enterprises individually or by forming consortia.

Besides, it has also been proposed to extend the benefit of Purchase Preference Policy of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Department of Public Enterprises for purchases from Public Sector Undertakings, shall be made available to NSIC as supplier under this Procurement Policy of MSEs.

Further, it has been suggested that the Central Government Ministries/Departments shall not impose the restricted conditions for MSEs in their tenders. The minimum turnover as one of the eligibility criteria for MSEs shall not be incorporated in tenders because it restricts MSEs participation.

Earlier, inaugurating the meeting the Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Mahabir Prasad said, in various countries including the US, the government gave preference in purchasing from the Micro and Small Enterprises.

He said although there was a policy for Procurement Preference in our country, but the same was not being implemented properly. Hence a Draft Procurement Preference Policy was prepared in consultation with all the stakeholders. The Minister assured that after taking into consideration the suggestions from the members and the associations, a final draft would be prepared, which would be sent to other ministries for comments.

UNI