राज्य स्तरीय बैंकर्स समिति State Level Bankers' Committee
Convenor Bank || North Eastern Region
Convenor Bank || North Eastern Region
Industrialization in Assam dates to the days of first commercial plantation oftea and then commissioning of Digboi Refinery on 11thDecember 1901. Digboi Refinery isthe India’s oldest operating refinery and one of the oldest operating refineries in the world.The historic Digboi Refinery has been termed as the “Gangotri of the Indian Hydrocarbonsector”. Apart from pioneering in teaand refining there are huge onshore oil& gasproductions. Lucrative location of the State in the NE region of India bordering East & South-East Asian economies and presence of banks and financial bodies, communication,powerand rapidly developing transportation sector is levraging further the attractiveness of theState to attractmanufacturing andtradingbusinessesfromthe mainland well complemented by the “Look East” policy of Government of India. The state has a modestyet growing industrial basecovering segments like petrochemicals, fertilisers, textiles, cement, plastic, traditionalhandlooms&handicrafts andtourism thatoffergainfulemployment to thousands. Oil and natural gas, apart from tea estates, being in most of the industrial revenues to Assam.
With a view to provide infrastructure facilities to the Prospective Entrepreneurs/Investors the Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) and the Assam Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (AIIDC) have been asked to develop new Industrial parks by procuring more land in the State. Meanwhile various Industrial Infrastructures such as several Industrial Growth Centres, IID Projects, Industrial Parks etc. have already been established in almost all the districts of the State. Open land of 80 lakh sq. m. has already been developed and so far 32 lakh sq. m. have been allotted to various Industrial Projects in the State. The remaining 48 lakh sq. m. or 1000 acres of developed land is available today. Besides readymade industrial sheds, the Department is in possession of huge plots of fully developed open land ready for allotment to the prospective parties interested in establishing their industries in different locations in the State.
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has emerged as a highly vibrant anddynamic sector of the Indian economy over the last five decades. It contributes significantly to theeconomic and social development of the country by fostering entrepreneurship and generating largestemployment opportunities at comparatively lower capital cost, next only to agriculture. The small-scaleindustries sectors have a major contribution towards creating employment in the State. Presently thesmall-scale industries have been sub-divided into Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise under the Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act 2006.A number of statutory and non-statutory bodies work under the aegis of the Ministry of MSME which include the Khadi VillageIndustries Commission (KVIC), the Coir Board of India and National Small Industries Corporation(NSIC). Government of India Scheme envisages financial assistance to State Governments for settingup new and modernizes existing Mini Technology Centres.
The MSMEs in Assam are not enjoying any better policies instead of having such resources and talents. The major problems faced by MSMEs of this region are lack of access to equity and credit. This sector also has poor paying capacity and therefore faces shortage of skilled manpower resulting in absence of managerial capabilities, marketing channels and brand building capacity. The Sector faces a number of problems - absence of adequate and timely banking finance, limited capital and knowledge, non-availability, identification of new markets, constraints on modernisation &expansions, non-availability of highly skilled labour at affordable cost, follow up with various government agencies to resolve problems etc.
Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Program is a credit linked subsidy scheme mergingtwo scheme Pradhan mantra Rojgar Yojana and Rural employment generation Programme. Thescheme was launched back in 2008 by MSME for providing financial assistant to set up newenterprises. The maximum admissible cost of the project/unit is 25 lakhs for manufacturing sector and10 lakhs for business sector. During the first five month of the financial year 2021-22, the approval ofprojects under the PMEGP has increased to 59.61%. The KVIC is the nodal agency for implementingthe PMEGP scheme at the national level and at the State level the scheme is implemented by the stateKVIC Directorate, State KVIB and the District Industries and Commerce Centers and Banks. TheGovernment subsidy under the scheme is being routed through the KVIC to the identified Banks.
Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) established under the Khadi and Village.Industries Commission Act, 1956, is a statutory organization under the aegis of the Ministry of MSME. The main objectives of KVIC include: -
Apart from PMEGP, with a view to generate rural employment various Khadi and VillageIndustries are being promoted in the state by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission and AssamKhadi and Village Industries Board since their establishment. The total number of employmentsengaged through KVI Board was 68,616 in 2021-22. Thenumber of employments generated in this sector was 5563 during 2021-22. Total number of personsengaged in this sector including PMEGP was 72,316 in 2021-22.
Besides above, Govt. has also been implementing some employment-orientedprogrammes alsoi.e., Rural Self Employment Training Institute for self-employment and establishment of smallenterprises, Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) under NRLM for helping SHG andtheir family members to set up enterprises in non-farm sector to increase the radius of employmentopportunities and overall upliftment of Rural economy as well as state economy as a whole.
