Nitin Gadkari foresees economic opportunity for India amid COVID-19, stresses on MSME role

Addressing overseas scholars and students on Sunday, Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari opined that the ongoing economic situation was an opportunity for India to attract more foreign investment. Citing that the world didn't want to deal with China, he talked about the possibility of India becoming a big manufacturing hub. Highlighting that the MSME sector accounted for 29% of the contribution towards GDP and 48% of the exports, he stressed the need for an increase in its turnover in the next two years. Gadkari also revealed that his Ministry is preparing a scheme pertaining to the MSME payment and shall be presented to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman soon.

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Nitin Gadkari remarked, "After fighting the corona war, we have to fight the economic war. Now, the whole world is facing this economic crisis. As far as the Indian situation is concerned, it is a blessing in disguise. Now, the whole world is criticising China. The world doesn't want to deal with China. This is an opportunity for India to attract foreign investment with new innovation, new research, and new technology. We can make India a very big manufacturing hub."

"Presently, 29% of the contribution to the GDP is from MSME. At the same time, 48% of the export is from MSME. Until now, the MSME has created 11 crore jobs. It is a really great challenge about Indian economy and industry. We can convert these problems into opportunities. In my ministry, we have decided to give special responsibility to Joint Secretary for foreign investment in industry. We need to focus on the rural, tribal, and agricultural economy. We need to take the turnover of MSME to 5 lakh crore in the next two years," he added. 

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The novel coronavirus crisis

Currently, there are 26,917 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 5,914 persons have recovered while 826 casualties have been reported. With 8068 cases and 342 deaths, Maharashtra has the single-highest contribution for any state in India's COVID-19 tally. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the Chief Minister and other senior officials of each state on the morning of April 27 to review the fight against the novel coronavirus. 

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