Shimla: Himachal Pradesh has made significant progress in strengthening its MSME ecosystem with a special focus on youth and women entrepreneurs under the Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) Programme. The achievements were highlighted during a review meeting chaired by Dr. Rajneesh, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, at the Directorate of Industries.
Officials informed that 1,080 MSMEs have undergone Digital Readiness Assessments under the MSME SMART initiative, while 890 Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production studies have been carried out to encourage environmentally sustainable business practices.
To promote entrepreneurship among young people, 48 pre-incubation centres have been established across the state, engaging nearly 19,000 students from Industrial Training Institutes and polytechnics. The initiative aims to encourage innovation and create future entrepreneurs.
Social inclusion has emerged as a major component of the programme. As many as 1,325 rural women entrepreneurs have received skill training through HPSHHCL and HPKVN. In addition, women-led enterprises have been supported through dedicated workshops and 16 funding and networking meets, benefiting 257 entrepreneurs.
The state has also taken steps to improve access to finance for MSMEs by signing agreements with Invoice Mart and RXIL to facilitate onboarding on the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platform, helping address the issue of delayed payments.
During the review, Dr. Rajneesh appreciated Himachal Pradesh’s performance under the RAMP Programme and commended the state’s achievements across various sectors. He also reviewed the implementation of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme and emphasised improving credit access and expediting toolkit distribution for eligible artisans.
The Directorate of Industries announced plans to organise international exposure visits to adopt global best practices and further strengthen the state’s MSME sector.
