Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: the state government is considering extending the benefits of the MSME sector to the M-sand manufacturing enterprises along with fixed power costs and mineral royalties.
Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is introducing a new policy to provide industry status to all entrepreneurs in the state manufacturing M-Sand or manufactured sand, according to an ANI report on Wednesday. M-Sand is an artificial sand made by crushing huge stones and granite for use in construction.
M-sand works as a viable sustainable alternative for river sand which can have an environmental impact amid excessive sand mining. As a result, the state government is considering extending the benefits of the MSME sector to the M-sand manufacturing enterprises along with fixed power costs and mineral royalties.
Mineral royalties are imposed by local authorities or state/central government on the quantity of minerals extracted from a mine or on the income from the sale of such minerals.
The draft for a new policy, which aims to check illegal river sand mining, will be rolled out following the inputs received from the stakeholders and notified post approval from the cabinet. The Directorate General of Geology and Mining, Uttar Pradesh, has recently discussed the policy draft with the stakeholders.
There is a provision in the policy to give industry status to M-Sand units. Under this, all M-Sand units will be given the benefits of industry status by the Directorate of Industry and Enterprise Promotion, Uttar Pradesh. Along with this, a provision is proposed to provide benefits of the MSME Promotion Policy 2022 as well,” ANI reported quoting Vipin Kumar Jain, Additional Director, Directorate of Geology and Mining.
Vipin Kumar Jain further informed that there is a provision for capital subsidy, stamp duty exemption, and interest exemption. According to the report, a 25 per cent capital subsidy is to be given to micro-enterprises of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal region while 20 per cent and 15 per cent will be for small and medium units respectively. On the other hand, for units in Madhyanchal and Paschimanchal, the capital subsidy would be 20 per cent for micro-units, 15 per cent for small enterprises and 10 per cent for medium units.
As for stamp duty exemption, a 100 per cent exemption will be given for Bundelkhand and Purvanchal and 75 per cent for Madhyanchal and Paschimanchal. Along with this, there is also a plan to provide interest subsidies of up to 50 per cent to micro-enterprises with a capping of 25 lakhs for five years.
According to an April 2023 report by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, an informal network of organisations and individuals working on issues related to the water sector, 46 people were killed in riverbed mining-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh during the period between April 2022 and Feb 2023.
