‘MSME package is in favour of large enterprises, not the smaller ones’

Congress parliamentarian and former Union minister Manish Tewari talks to Saubhadra Chatterji about the economic package announced by the government for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The government announced the first part of its stimulus package for MSMEs. Your reaction.

It is a clear case of skewed priorities of the government. Today, India faces the single biggest humanitarian crisis after the Partition in 1947 and the displacement of people from East Pakistan. There are millions of migrant labourers left without jobs and shelter. But for the Centre it seems they don’t exist.

But that was just the first part of a series of announcements.

Yes. And we would be closely watching the future announcements too. But the MSME package doesn’t overshadow the fact that the government’s top priority should have been those millions of workers. Why is the government silent? The second priority of the government should have been should have been to pump up the MGNREGS to provide work to these jobless workers.

But the government’s first package had announcements for the farmers and rural India. the Centre has already released ₹33,300 crore under MGNREGS for this year.

Do you know the problems farmers are facing today? Yes, the government has given ₹2000 under PM Kisan to farmers but many of them are not getting the MSP for their produce. Farmers need to be paid their dues but it is not happening.

Do you think that this package will provide a fresh lease of life to Indian MSME sector?

We welcome the subordinate debt scheme of ₹20,000 crore and equity corpus fund of ₹10,000 crore. But if you see the MSME package, it is in favour of the large MSME enterprises not the smaller ones. Where is the fiscal stimulus? This is just a liquidity plus package.