What
did Finance Minister launch?
On
Tuesday, Finance Miinister of India Nirmala Sitharaman, who holds the rank of Finance Minister, released MSME
Prerana. It is a programme designed for mentoring of business online for MSMEs,
by state-run Indian Bank.
What
is the aim of the programme?
The
programme is said to be made available in local languages, and is focused at
empowerment of entrepreneurs by the help of development of skills and workshops
for the building of capacity, as stated by the bank in a release.
What
did various people speak on it?
Sitharaman
stated that Indian bank had taken a great step by launching MSME Prerana, that
will help aspiring entrepreneurs and guide them through mentoring program. Also,
she stated that the initiative would be a source of inspiration for various other
people in the banking sector to bring onto practice similar measures.
The
Finance Minister launched the programme at the corporate centre of the bank
situated in Chennai. Debashish Panda, Financial Services Secretary, also had
taken part through video conferencing in the launch event and he delved on the
initiatives that government has taken to aid MSMEs. The step has been taken collaborating
with Poornatha and Co, a firm that is responsible for designation of
development programs for entrepreneurs in vernacular languages by the use of
web-based interactive sessions carried out online and studies of the case, as
stated by the bank.
According
to Padmaja Chunduru, the Managing Director and CEO of lender, during the
outreach programs, webinars and interaction with bank’s MSME units, carried
out, the conclusion they came upon was very much dependency on chartered
accountants or agents for having an access to bank loans.
MSMEs
have to face several obstructions such as language, what things do bank look
for while they approach for loans, ways for management of cash flows, government
schemes that are available and suitable for them, and ways to get themselves
registered for the schemes according to her.
Chunduru
stated that they had made their effort in the form of MSME Prerana program for
bridging gap created in the sets of skills. According to her, it is a business
mentoring program which takes in simple terms and in the local vernacular.
According
to bank, the first two programs would be held in Tamil for the Coimbatore
clusters of Indian Bank. And then it will be boosted across the entire country
in various languages such as Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Gujarati. The
program has been spread over 12 sessions and it helps MSME entrepreneurs for
gaining finance handling and managerial skills, crisis handling in business. It
also helps to understand the credit rating dynamics and management of the
risks.
Poornatha
and Co. Will handle the sessions conducted on managerial and financial skills.
While Indian Bank will look after the topics that are related to the banking
sector. When it is completed successfully, a certificate will be provided to
participants, which Indian Bank, Poornatha and Co and MADE that stands for
Michigan Academy for Developing Entrepreneurs, USA, will issue collectively,
according to the release.
