Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Telangana CM A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu and others at the launch of MSME Policy 2024 at Shilpa Kala Vedika of Madhapur in Hyderabad on September 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Ramakrishna G

Telangana government has unveiled a policy dedicated to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME 2024) outlining action plan to address their key, growth constraining challenges around land, finance, raw material, skilled labour, market access and technology.

First such in the State that the Chief Minister A.Revanth Reddy described as one of the earliest policy reforms introduced by the government, since assuming office in December 2023, the policy seeks to address gaps for MSMEs in the TS-iPASS policy.

As many as 40 measures to offer end-to-end support, from startup to sale phase, form part of MSME 2024 policy that the Chief Minister accompanied by Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Industries and IT Minister D.Sridhar Babu launched in the presence of industry leaders and entrepreneurs.

Five industrial parks

Towards improving access to affordable land, the new policy said five of the 10 new industrial parks to be developed between existing Outer Ring Road and the proposed Regional Ring Road will be exclusively for MSMEs. One will be reserved for women-owned MSMEs, while another will be for innovative start-ups.

In all new industrial parks, 5% plots will be reserved for women and 15% plots for SC/ST entrepreneurs. Land cost rebate for SC/ST entrepreneurs will be 50% with a cap of 50 lakh. The government also intends to encourage development of private flatted factory complexes and industrial parks, by offering stamp duty discounts and rebates on the land cost. It will construct flatted factories with in-built facilities for women across 119 constituencies, particularly encourage SHG women members to set up small businesses.

Spurring on with subsidy

On challenges related to finance, the MSME policy proposes capital investment subsidy scheme under which SC/ST entrepreneurs will get 50% with a cap of Rs.1 crore (for manufacturing units); while all other MSMEs will get a subsidy of 25% with a cap at Rs.30 lakh; and women entrepreneurs a 20% additional subsidy and additional cap of Rs.20 lakh. Pilot programmes will be launched for MSMEs to access credit based on future sales.

Other measures for accelerating growth of MSME, which the Chief Minister wanted to play a key role in the State emerging as $1 trillion economy, the policy has recommended setting up of 10 new common facility centres to be developed around MSME clusters in as many districts; establishing cluster-based testing facilities on PPP mode; one warehouse will be constructed in PPP model in each of the 5 ORR-RRR MSME parks. Construction of warehouses will be encouraged by 100% stamp duty discount and land cost rebates. The duty incurred on import of raw material will also be reimbursed.

Rs.100 cr Yantram Fund

Under technology assistance measures, the government will constitute a Rs.100 crore Yantram Fund to encourage adoption of technology by MSMEs. The government will also come with a policy on preferential public procurement stipulating that 25% of such procurement will be from MSMEs. The government will support co-location of ancillary MSMEs that are a part of supply chain for large-scale MNCs setting base in Telangana. The ancillary MSMEs will be given the same incentives as the large units.

Reimbursement of cost

Bulk purchase of digital technology at discounted rates for MSME clusters and industrial parks will be taken up, while IPR registration cost for all MSMEs will be reimbursed. Also, duty on samples imported for prototyping up to Rs 10 lakh will be reimbursed. For women owned MSMEs, the limit will up to 15 lakh.

New Delhi:

After Telangana Chief Minister Revnath Reddy raised fresh questions over the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party today came down heavily on the Congress and said that the Congress party is questioning the “bravery” of the military and putting India under question on the issue of terrorism by giving “clean chit” to Pakistan.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that the Congress is getting “support” from Pakistan.

“Now it has been clear that these are not mere coincidences but well thought experiment the way Congress party is taking stands for Pakistan and terrorism and giving them the clean chit… Now, Revanth Reddy, the Telangana CM, is not only giving clean chit to Pakistan on Pulwama and alleging India but also questioning the surgical strike…”, he said.

“In their attempt to oppose Modi, the Congress party is questioning the bravery of the military and putting India under question on the issue of terrorism by giving a clean chit to Pakistan. They are giving them a way to protect themselves at international forums from allegations of terrorism. This is the real intention of Congress and hence they are getting support from Pakistan,” he added.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Prakash Reddy said that the remarks of the Telangana Chief Minister are against the “national interest.”

“These are irresponsible statements and against the national interest. His statement on IB and R&AW and any other intelligence agency demoralises them. When you are talking about surgical strikes or Pulwama incidents, the IB or R&AW alone are not responsible. Even though those agencies are actively working, sometimes it happens…It’s unfortunate. It is an irresponsible statement that demoralises intelligence activities. The Congress party changed its colours many a times just for the sake of votes and people know about your political ambition very well,” he said.

Laying the blame on the BJP-led NDA at the Centre for ‘failing’ to prevent the Pulwama attack, the Telangana Chief Minister said, “For (Narendra) Modi, everything is political. Everything is about winning elections. His way of thinking is not good for the country. The time has come for the country to be rid of (Narendra) Modi and the BJP. Ask them anything and they will respond with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ (glory to Lord Ram). They failed to prevent the Pulwama attack. What was the IB doing? What was our intelligence network doing?”

Claiming that PM Modi tried to derive political and electoral benefits from the Pulwama attack and the retaliatory action by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Mr Reddy said, “Modi-ji attempted to extract political and electoral benefits from the airstrikes after the Pulwama incident. I want to ask him: What were you doing? Why did you let it happen? What did you do to boost the country’s internal security? Why did you not take the help of the agencies at your disposal such as the IB and R&AW? It was your failure. Nobody knows for sure if the airstrike, as was claimed, took place. If the responsibility of ensuring the country’s internal security was with us, we wouldn’t have left it in anyone’s hands.”

Earlier, on Friday, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar found himself trouble again after a clip of an old interview surfaced in which he is heard saying that Pakistan, as a nuclear-armed country, deserves respect. He also advocated the need for India to reengage with its neighbour.

The Pulwana attack went down on February 14, 2019, after a suicide bomber rammed an IED-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus.

Days after the attack, on February 26, the Indian Air Force carried out airstrikes on a JeM terror hideout in Pakistan’s Balakot, killing a ‘large number’ of terrorists and destroying their infrastructure.

Pakistan’s efforts to launch counter-strikes on Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir were thwarted by the Indian Air Force.

Striking back on February 26, 2019, IAF fighters targeted an advanced terror training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)