NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched CriSidEx, India's first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) developed jointly by credit rating body CRISIL and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) here.

CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of eight parameters and measures MSE business sentiment on a scale of zero (extremely negative) to 200 (extremely positive).

CriSidEx will have two indices, one for the survey quarter and another for the next quarter once a trend emerges after few rounds of the survey, providing independent time series data.

Delivering his keynote address, the Finance Minister said: "The health of MSME sector is extremely vital to the economy and with the number of steps taken by the government in the past two years, there is an increased integration of MSME sector into the formal economy."

"MSME sector is the backbone of the economy. It is one of the largest employers in the country and with the vast population where employment either in government or in the large industry itself has limited potential. This is one sector where people not only exhibit their entrepreneurial skills, become part of large value chains but also become job creators in the process. And that is the reason why a bulk of the jobs in manufacturing, trading have been created in this particular sector," the Finance Minister added.