What’s in the news?

• In 2021, the World Bank approved a $500 million program to support MSMEs in India to increase liquidity access for viable small businesses impacted by COVID-19.
• Known as the Raising and Accelerating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Performance (RAMP) Program, the new initiative targets improvements in the performance of 5,55,000 MSMEs.
• The RAMP program will intensify efforts to support firms to return to pre-crisis production and employment levels, while laying the foundations for longer-term productivity-driven growth and generation of much-needed jobs in the MSME sector.
• The scheme aims at strengthening institutions and governance at the Centre and State, improving Centre-State linkages and partnerships and improving access of MSMEs to market and credit, technology upgradation and addressing issues of delayed payments and greening of MSMEs.

Significance

• The MSME sector is the backbone of India’s economy, contributing around 30% of India’s GDP and 50% of exports. 
• Out of some 58 million MSMEs in India, more than 40 percent lack access to formal sources of finance.
• The RAMP Program is the World Bank’s second intervention in this sector, the first being the $750 million MSME Emergency Response Program, approved in July 2020 to address the immediate liquidity and credit needs of millions of viable MSMEs severely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises has reviewed the progress of initiatives taken under the RAMP programme.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1844602