New Delhi: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday announced revised guidelines for MSMEs, classifying retail and wholesale trade as MSMEs. He said that the revised guidelines will benefit 2.5 crore retail and wholesale traders. The existing definition of MSMEs includes manufacturing and service enterprises.

With the revised guidelines the retail and wholesale trades will be now be allowed to register on Udyam Registration Portal. Gadkari said retail and wholesale trade were left out of the ambit of MSME, and now under the revised guidelines, retail and wholesale trade will also get the benefit of priority sector lending under the Reserve Bank of India guidelines.

"Retail and wholesale trade were left out of the ambit of MSME. Under the revised guidelines, MSME has issued an order to include retail and wholesale trade as MSME and extending to them the benefit of priority sector lending under RBI guidelines' said the minister in a tweet. He said the Narendra Modi-led government is committed to strengthening MSMEs and make them the engines for economic growth.

(Agencies)