Census results of MSME sector will be out by early next year

New Delhi, Mar 5 (UNI) The ongoing fourth Census of the micro, small and medium enterprises will be completed by early next year, which will throw some light on the number of enterprises in each category, their equity base resource requirements.

''The total number of MSMEs in the country is presently estimated to be around 30 million and the official estimate was that they accounted for Rs 47,000 crore of the banking sector's debt exposure.

Of this, the share of Public Sector Bank's worked out to Rs 37,500 crore,'' Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Jawahar Sircar said.

The total sum available was much below the requirement of the debt needs of the sector, which was estimated to be between Rs 65,000 crore and Rs 67,000 crore, as on March 31, 2007, he added.

Mr Sircar said that the emerging trend among the MSMEs sector was to move away from debt financing to other forms like tapping the primary market, funding from venture capitalists etc. He urged the MSMEs in consultation with SIDBI and other financial institutions to come out with innovative suggestions for assessing the risk and also making available funds for their expansion and modernization.

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