Nitin Gadkari’s mantra for economic recovery; asks industry’s help to fulfill Atma Nirbhar Bharat dream

Talking about the MSME sector, he said that micro-small and medium enterprises is an important sector for development of the country and there is a need to make MSMEs strong.

As India continues to face the heat of coronavirus, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has asked India Inc to help the government in economic recovery. He has also pushed for taking up PPP (public private partnership) model projects, asking stakeholders such as banks, financial institutions, MSMEs, and agriculture, among others to create demand and address the need of liquidity in the economy. “The banks, financial institutions, MSMEs, industries, agriculture, infrastructure, everywhere we need to plan and with an appropriate vision we need to move fast,” Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport, Highways and MSME Minister, said at an event organised by CII, PTI reported. He also said that the need of the hour is to push demand by PPP projects as there is a liquidity crunch in the economy.

Talking about the MSME sector, he said that micro-small and medium enterprises is an important sector for development of the country and there is a need to make MSMEs strong, boost exports while also reducing imports. The same is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for reducing imports and boosting exports by supporting local manufacturing under Atma Nirbhar Bharat mission. Nitin Gadkari also said that the industry bodies must come forward for ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ and asked them to work in 115 aspirational districts to boost rural economy and make India a superpower.

Currently, MSMEs contribute about 30% to the country’s GDP growth and accounted for 48-50% exports, Nitin Gadkari said, adding that the sector has created more than 11 crore jobs. He also suggested that the industry must now tap foreign capital investment. 

Meanwhile, amid rising coronavirus cases in India, a rating agency has further downgraded India GDP outlook for the current financial year. ICRA has said that it has sharply downgraded the India GDP forecast from 5% earlier to 9.5% as localised lockdowns and rising number of cases arrest the economic recovery made so far.