Meet Narayan Tatu Rane: The new MSME Minister tasked to jumpstart Covid-battered sector

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The task at hand for Rane would be to expedite recovery of the ailing MSME sector due to the Covid crisis and assuage concerns of small enterprises that have been continuously calling for more support particularly in terms of ease of credit access, and reduced compliance burden.

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: In the first major cabinet reshuffle during the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 43 leaders including 15 new Cabinet Ministers and 28 Ministers of States were sworn-in on Wednesday evening. The MSME Ministry portfolio, which was earlier held by Nitin Gadkari, was allocated to Narayan Tatu Rane – former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Rane, 69, on Thursday, assumed charge of the MSME Ministry. The task at hand for Rane would be to expedite recovery of the ailing MSME sector due to the Covid crisis and assuage concerns of small enterprises that have been continuously calling for more support particularly in terms of ease of credit access, and reduced compliance burden.

Rane had earlier also served as the Cabinet Minister for Industry, Port, Employment and Self-employment verticals in the Maharashtra government. According to MSME Ministry, Rane has been in public service across different capacities for over 35 years. The Minister said MSMEs are amongst the strongest drivers of economic development, innovation, and employment. Rane called for the aim to “Unshackle the MSMEs and unleash their full potential to double their contribution towards a $5 trillion economy and transform the lives of the aspiring millions through jobs, exports, and inclusive growth.”

Along with Rane, the Minister of State charge in the ministry was given to Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma who has been a five-time Lok Sabha member of Parliament MP. Hailing from Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh, Verma became an MLA back in 1991. In 2001, Verma was also elected as the vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh BJP’s SC Morcha. As an MP, Verma was a member of the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Verma said that constant efforts are being made towards the upliftment of MSMEs under the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative through various schemes for infrastructure development, credit & financial assistance, technology up-gradation, and skill development along with interventions like an upward revision of MSME definition to include large number of business units and exporters, etc. Former MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari had last year aimed at creating 5 crore additional jobs in the MSME sector in five years along with increasing the GDP contribution to 50 per cent from around 30 per cent and exports’ share to 60 per cent from 49 per cent.