The MSME ministry last week launched SAMBHAV, a National Level Awareness Programme-2021, in the national capital. Under this one-month long initiative, students from different colleges and ITIs from all parts of the country will be encouraged by 130 field offices of the ministry to take up entrepreneurship. During the campaign the college students will be made aware of various schemes being implemented by the Ministry through audio and video film presentations.

Initiatives like SAMBHAV are encouraging. The government has set a target of increasing the contribution of the MSME sector to GDP from present 30 percent to 50 percent. At the same time, another objective is to enhance the employment generation prowess of the sector, by increasing its contribution in this respect from 11 crore to 15 crore. This objectives are, no doubt, ambitious, and in the background of this, efforts like SAMBHAV are welcome.

Meanwhile, according a last week media report, Uttar Pradesh have recorded a 38 percent increase in exports from MSMEs since the State government provided them with a platform on e-commerce websites. UP houses around 15 percent of the country's MSMEs and more than 1,000 micro units are on various e-commerce platforms. According to a top official, e-commerce presence is the main reason behind the whopping increase in MSME exports from the state.

Similarly, another initiative of the UP government that has fetched encouraging result is the 'One District-One Product' scheme. Crores of ODOP products have been sold on various e-commerce platforms and, again, this kind of efforts – by all other states, as well – can make a big difference in promoting the country’s MSME sector. In addition, we need comprehensive studies, combined with innovative thinking, to further strengthen this sector.