Financing Sustainable Production among MSME Clusters – Experiential Learnings and Policy Recommendations

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector plays worldwide an important and significant catalytic role for economic development through enterprise creation and employment generation. The MSME sector in India covers a wide spectrum of economic activities. With more than 44.7 million enterprises, this sector generates more than 100 million jobs, next only to agriculture sector. It also contributes around 45 percent of total industrial manufacturing and 43 percent of India’s total exports. The sector manufactures over 6000 products, ranging from the traditional to hi-tech items, in addition to providing a wide range of services. With the changing scenario, the sector needs to constantly move up in the value chain as well as strengthen its competitiveness in local as well as global markets.