Union minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday said micro, small and medium enterprises in the country have provided jobs to 10 crore people between 2014-18, terming it a “tight slap” on people raising a “propaganda” to defame MSMEs.
His comments came days after media reports suggested that a periodic labour force survey of the National Sample Survey Office found the unemployment rate in 2017-18 was the highest since 1972-73 when it was 2.2 per cent.
Singh, the Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), observed that between 2014 and 2018, 18 lakh entrepreneurs availed loans under the credit guarantee scheme, as against only 11 lakh entrepreneurs between 2010-14.
He also said that two lakh entrepreneurs benefited from the Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Programme between 2014-18 taking the overall number to 20 lakh.
According to him, existing MSME units gave employment to a minimum of seven crore people while enterprises set up by new entrepreneurs provided jobs to three crore people.
“How is employment falling when 20 lakh entrepreneurs are standing up. If someone says it is night now I will not agree because I am talking during the day. With full confidence and full evidence I say that a situation to spread confusion is being created in the country,” he said, addressing the stakeholders’ consultation meeting on national SC/ST hub.
“MSMEs have provided jobs to 10 crore people in the past four years. This is not word of mouth but based on a survey. It is a tight slap on the names of people who are raising propaganda to defame MSMEs. When the GDP is rising, inflation is falling, how can the employment fall,” Singh said.
