With small and medium enterprises (SME) desperately seeking more infusion of capital by the banks to be able to achieve sustainability and handle increasing pressures, the Government, policy makers and bankers have stepped up efforts to improve conditions in the sector.

A five year plan has been finalised by the financial institutions including public sector, private sector, rural banks, commercial and cooperative banks to pump in investment into the SME sector. And it has been envisaged that a total of 47 banks with 2598 branches spread across Orissa would be providing Rs 13655.37 crore as assistance to the SMEs from this year to 2010.

The banks have not fared very impressively in extending assistance to the sector, which has the potential to generate huge employment opportunities for skilled and non-skilled work-force of the State.

It has been observed that performance of banks under SSI and SME sector has not been up to satisfactory levels though they have claimed to have achieved over 100 percent of set targets. This is because the target has been very meager.

While banks have been called upon to take steps for improvement in involvement and participation in the SSI and SME sectors, proposals have also been mooted to adopt a cluster approach to make plans fruitful.

The State Level Bankers Committee observed that formation of clusters in different identified regions or at the district-level would help bring together the Government, administration and bankers to effect better coordination among the agencies and ensure proper implementation of the projects.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com