“Skilling MSME stakeholders” –SIDBI initiatives

MSMEs are crucial for economic development due to their significant contribution in terms of output, exports and employment. However, MSMEs are still hampered by problems of finance, marketing and low quality. Besides, there is an acute shortage of skilled manpower in MSME. For a developing country like India, micro & small scale sector is the main source of employment for millions of people. The Government has taken many initiatives including launching of National Skill Development Mission, National Council for Skill Development, National Skill Development Coordination Board and National Skill Development Corporation etc. to enhance skills of youth and enable them to take up productive employment.

SIDBI, the apex financing Institution for the MSME sector, plays a pioneering role for promotion and development of the MSMEs, particularly for cottage and micro enterprises. Since inception, as a part of its credit plus initiatives, the Bank has designed and implemented a number of need based skill development & capacity building programmes for empowering the stakeholders in MSME eco-system.

The Bank has now embarked on reorientation of the programmes to converge with the current national initiatives of “Make in India”, “Digital India” & “Skill India”. Some of the initiatives taken by SIDBI so far are indicated in the brochure.

Skilling potential entrepreneurs

Programme Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs)

Objective to empower youth and promote entrepreneurship to address unemployment and promote regional

developmentTarget Beneficiaries

rural youth, women, graduates, S&T graduates

Duration 1 to 4 weeksPartners reputed national level institutions viz. EDII,

RUDSETI, premier educational institutions etc. Impact trained over 77,000 participants in 3,100 EDPs

The success rate of supported EDPs has been around 40%.

Effective instrument for enterprise development

Skilling owners / executives

Programme Skill-cum-Technology Upgradation Programme (STUP)

Objective developing/strengthening the technical and managerial skills and capabilities of the MSME entrepreneurs

Target Beneficiaries

Owner / business managers of existing MSMEs

Duration 4 to 6 days on full time basis 8 to 12 days on part time basis

Partners specialised institutions viz. CECRI, CIPET, CIMAP and other reputed technical/management institutions.

Impact supported 1550 STUPs benefiting about 32,500 participants

Creating support system for owner managers

Programme Small Industries Management Assistants’ Programme (SIMAP)

Objective to develop a cadre of industrial managers specifically trained to assist the MSME entrepreneurs in their multiple responsibilities

to open up new avenues of productive employment for young graduates who are otherwise not professionally qualified

Target Beneficiaries

unemployed graduates diploma holders industry-sponsored candidates

Duration 14 weeks comprising of class room sessions, on-the-job practical training and refresher/ debriefing

Partners Reputed Engineering & Management Institutions including IITs and IIMs

Impact Over 300 SIMAPs have been conducted by top rung national and state level institutions benefiting about 9000 participants

Skilling & promoting rural enterprise

Programme Micro Enterprises Promotion Programme (MEPP) [Erstwhile Rural Industries Programme]

Objective enterprise promotion and hand-holding facilitate financial tie-up with the formal banking

sectorTarget Beneficiaries

potential rural entrepreneurs

Duration it is an on-going long term programme

Partners reputed national level institutions viz. EDII, IIE, TCOs etc.

Impact implemented in 124 districts in 26 States Cumulatively, about 41,500 enterprises have

been promoted Have generated employment opportunities for

about 1.07 lakh persons mainly belonging to underprivileged section of the society.

addresses one of the major problems of rural unemployment through skill training and use of latent rural resources

Cluster level initiatives

Programme Cluster Development Programmes (CDPs)

Objective to address various financial and non financial gaps at cluster level

Target Beneficiaries

existing MSMEs / Artisans in clusters budding entrepreneurs

Duration need based (short term & on-going programmes)

Partners reputed cluster development agencies, especially local

Impact supported more than 100 CDPs in various clusters all over India

About 12,000 MSMEs/ artisans/ entrepreneurs have been benefitted from these initiatives.

comprehensive inputs including management practices, establishment of marketing linkages, product / design development, skill upgradation in different technical trades, etc.

Capacity Building of Bank Officials

Programme capacity building of Tier-II banks viz. RRBs / UCBs

Objective sensitization of bank officials regarding needs of MSME sector

enhance the credit flow to micro enterprise sector using downscaling methodology

Target Beneficiaries

Credit Officers of Tier-II banks viz. RRBs / UCBs having presence in rural / semi urban and remote areas

Duration comprehensive 2 days standardised video based training module

Partners In-house staff / consultants

Impact sensitization programmes covering chairmen of about 27 RRBs and 10 UCBs

‘Training of Trainers’ programmes have been conducted benefiting about 400 officials of 42 RRBs / UCBs

Innovative appraisal technique is expected to bring down the turn-around time (TAT) and enhance credit flow to micro enterprises

Hand-holding of MSMEs

Programme Setting up of MSME Advisory Centres (MACs)

Objective guiding new / existing entrepreneurs regarding availability of schemes of commercial banks, government subsidies / benefits

provide borrowers with debt counselling, answering queries raised by banks

apprise MSMEs of various Government of India/State Govt. schemes beneficial to them

escalate the problem faced by MSMEs counseling in the area of rehabilitation of

viable units / capacity building of bankersTarget Beneficiaries

new / existing entrepreneurs MSMEs

Duration It is an on-going programme

Partners Retired bankers appointed by SIDBI as Knowledge Partners in important MSME clusters and local Industry Associations

Impact more than 10000 MSMEs have benefited through MACs

dissemination of information on schemes operated by SIDBI/commercial banks for MSMEs and govt. subsidies

escalating the problems faced by MSMEs, viz., credit related problems like financial literacy, formulation of good business plan and forecast, familiarity with lender’s need for structured and reliable information, raw material / subsidy related problems at appropriate levels

Other initiatives in skilling

Management & Skill Development Institute [MSDI] : SIDBI, in association with Union Bank of India [UBI], set up a Management & Skill Development Institute [MSDI] at Jangipur in Murshidabad District, West Bengal in January 2010. MSDI is providing counselling and training support to the budding entrepreneurs of the region.

SIDBI MSME International Training Institute (SITI) : The training institjute at Bhubaneswar extends training to the staff of Micro Finance Institutions, UCBs/RRBs, Government officials etc. apart from SIDBI officials. The areas of training include appraisal, monitoring, gender sensitization etc.

Innovation & Incubation :

(i) To identify and commercialize grass-root innovations all over the country, the Bank has set up Micro Venture Innovation Fund (MVIF) in association with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Ahmedabad. The fund has supported over 200 innovations. The innovators are mentored for commercialisation of innovations, marketing and IPR issues.

(ii) SIDBI has supported setting up of SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre (SIIC) at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. SIIC has so far incubated 52 start-ups in diverse areas of state of the art technologies out of which 31 have already graduated. The incubatees are given extensive mentoring, support in commercialisation and fund raising.

Industry Associations : Industry Associations form a crucial last mile connectivity to MSMEs. SIDBI has undertaken a number of initiatives for capacity building of its staff in the areas of computerisation, managerial and marketing aspects etc.

Promoting youth entrepreneurship : The website www.smallB.in is a virtual mentor and handholding forum for the potential / budding and even existing entrepreneurs to set up new units and grow the existing ones. The website is quite exhaustive, covering various aspects of promoting entrepreneurs including schemes and incentives offered by the Central and State governments etc.

Initiatives in north eastern region : SIDBI is working with NEDFi for providing various financial and developmental services including MSME Finance, micro finance and also for undertaking various P & D activities in NER.