Secretary of the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Mr. Uday Kumar Varma has expressed his desire to develop a long-term and a sustainable bilateral relationship with USA in the MSME sector of the country.  A strong bilateral tie up in the MSME sector will lead to exchange of information, knowledge and other relevant details involved in the sector and further build a strong partnership between the two countries.

Mr. Varma suggested a few measures to develop this co-operation in the MSME sector creating an additional focus group for the SME sector under US-India Trade Policy Forum for SMEs; setting a CEO forum with the representatives from both the sides; create an institutional mechanisms, specifically for SME’s, appropriately anchored, in both Governments and appropriate Trade Bodies on both the sides to facilitate Delegation exchange, Technology and Expertise exchange, Information exchange, etc. If such a mechanism has already been created and exists, then its structure and mandate should be given a re-look to appropriately and adequately associate this sector.

Further, Mr. Varma recommended for again starting the agreement signed earlier by the MSME ministry with US Small Business Administration (US SBA) for the cooperation in the sector, which is not functional anymore.

In US, there are about 3.7 million manufacturers operating. In India, though the SME sector provides employment to almost 60 million people, making it the largest source of employment after the agriculture segment contributing significantly to the country’s economy.