Abstract
Micro, small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the most vibrant and sensitive sectors in Indian economy. Micro, small and medium enterprises including Khadi and village as well as rural enterprises play a pivotal role in the overall industrial development of the country. They have been the significant contributor to the national income, with their huge involvement in
country's industrial production, exports and the like. They create a sound entrepreneurial base in the economy by developing and nurturing the talents, and skills of small and medium scale entrepreneurs. MSMEs are the fountain head of several innovations in manufacturing and service sectors, the major link in the supply chain to corporate and the public sector units. MSMEs contributes forty five per cent of industrial output, forty per cent of exports, employing sixty million people, create 1.3 million jobs every year and produce more than 8000 quality products for the Indian and international markets. Thus, this sector has been regarded a priority status by both the Central and the State Governments. Despite of this, the MSMEs comprise with several problems in their day-to-day functions, that is, in production and marketing of their products. They find it difficult to sell their output at remunerative prices and cannot invest much on advertising, marketing research and the like. They also face stiff competition from large firms. Inadequate infrastructural facilities and access to credit are other major problems. MSMEs are often unable to procure adequate financial resources for the purchase of machinery, equipment and raw materials as well as for meeting working capital requirement. Further, they find it difficult to recruit and motivate skilled managerial and technical personnel. Recognizing the importance of micro, small and medium enterprises in the growth of Indian economy in terms of their contribution to country's industrial production, exports, employment and creation of entrepreneurial base, the Central and State Governments are executing several policy measures, promotional and developmental projects/schemes as well as providing a number of supporting incentives for development and promotion of MSME sector in their respective States/UTs. The present paper aims at focusing the problems of MSMEs and Government policy measures to provide and protect the MSMEs.