Former Indian President Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, stressing on the growing importance of the SME sector has suggested for a support structure involving mentoring, funding and marketing techniques for a sustainable growth and expansion of the MSME sector in the country.

He talked about two unique qualities that can be attributed only to MSME’s in the country – location and scale independent as they can be established and can be made operational from any part of the country whether in rural as well as urban areas and on any scale dependent on any requirement of a particular MSME unit.

The youth in India forms nearly 500 million persons and they can be tapped properly. They can be a huge boost to the growth of the MSME sector, he further added.

The MSME sector in India has grown steadily in the country presently these enterprises account for almost 45 percent of manufacturing output, 95 percent of the number of industrial units and 40 percent of exports. Clearly, they are engines of growth. Besides, the sector provides employment to almost 60 million people, making it the largest source of employment after the agriculture sector.