Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India has introduced a Public Procurement Policy for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of 2012, which is notified under MSMEs Act 2006. With a vision to facilitate promotion and development of MSMEs, the Public Procurement Policy 2012 mandates Central and State Government to procure 20% of goods and services from MSMEs. It also mandates 4% of all procurement to be done from SC/ST owned MSMEs. As present, government procurement from SC-ST enterprises is less than 0.5% due to low participation of the SC-ST enterprises. Hon’ble Prime Minister of India has launched the Scheme of National SC-ST Hub (NSSH) on 18.10.2016.

Ministry of MSME formulated NSSH with an outlay of Rs. 490 crore (2016-2020) with an objective to provide professional support to SC-ST enterprises in public procurement; adopt applicable industry practices and leveraging Stand-up India initiative. It is an initiative of the Govt. of India to develop ecosystem to focus on the growth of SC-ST MSMEs. NSSH envisions to provide SC-ST MSMEs with access to new markets thereby giving rise to new employment opportunities and an entrepreneurial culture.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the Hub will be closely working with various stakeholders including Khadi and Village Industries Boards, Industry Association, Incubators, Mentors, MSME- Development Institutes(MSME-DIs), District Industries Centres(DICs), CPSEs and State Governments.

J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board has been designated as the Nodal Agency for implementation of National Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe Hub in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Promote entrepreneurship amongst marginalized community i.e. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe by developing a supportive ecosystem for SC-ST entrepreneurs.
• Professional support to the SC-ST entrepreneurs in fulfilling the mandate for 4% procurement.
• Enable effective and enhanced participation of SC-ST owned MSEs in the Public Procurement market with a view to achieve the target of 4% of total procurement from SC-ST MSEs as set aside under the Public Procurement Policy for Micro & Small Enterprises Order, 2012.
• Leveraging the Stand-Up India initiative for budding SC-ST entrepreneurs.

• Promote prosperity among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by improving flow of financial assistance and through skill development and other innovative initiatives.

The National Scheduled and Scheduled Tribe Hub would carry out the following function:

1. Collection, collation and dissemination of information regarding SC-ST enterprises and entrepreneurs. The work could start immediately by capturing the date in MSME date bank. As regards, dissemination, help would be taken from MSME DIs and NSIC offices and various industry associations, especially DICCI.
2. Capacity among existing and prospective SC-ST entrepreneurs through skill training and EDPs.
3. Vendor Development involving CPSEs, NSIC, MSME-DIs and Industry associations including DICCI.
4. Promoting participation of SC-ST entrepreneurs in exhibitions and organizing special exhibitions for this purpose.
5. Mentoring and hand holding support to SC-ST entrepreneurs involving ex-bankers, industrialists, industry associations and other bodies for mentoring on the lines of similar scheme in NITI Aayog. This mentoring would involve support in marketing, quality improvement, etc.
6. Working with states as well as other organizations for SC-ST entrepreneurs so that these enterprises can benefit from all of them. The States and other central government organizations would continue to work in their existing areas of activities for development of SC-ST entrepreneurs. Policy advocacy with States for public procurement and development schemes.
7. Facilitating SC-ST entrepreneurs participating in public procurement, e-platform of DGS&D and monitoring the progress.
8. Facilitating credit linkages for SC-ST entrepreneurs.

To begin with the following specific schemes/tasks would be undertaken by SC-ST Hub:

1. A Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) with 25% capital subsidy and overall investment ceiling of Rs 1 crore would be implemented for SC-ST enterprises. The additional investment would be on the same lines as the present CLCSS but without restriction in the sectors or machinery and technology.
2. A Marketing Assistance Scheme for SC-ST enterprises would be started. It would have the following components:-

• Assistance for participation in international events outside India.
• Assistance for participation in domestic trade fairs.
• Assistance to trade fairs, events, buyer-seller meet, etc, especially focused on SC-ST enterprises.
• Other Activites to support marketing for SC-ST enterprises.

3. National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme would have special focus on SC-ST enterprises with full grant for various activities for SC-ST enterprises.
4. A special drive would be launched for registration of SC-ST enterprises with MSME Data Bank.
5. There are a large number of incubators set up in various government institutions with grant from Government of India. All such incubators would be requested to include at least two new SC-ST enterprises.
6. Existing SC-ST enterprises, which are present suppliers of goods and services to CPSEs or large private industry and have turnover above RS 10 lakhs, would be shortlisted to provide intensive mentoring and capacity building support.
7. SC-ST enterprises face multiple challenges in supplying goods and services to CPSEs. Often their size is quite small, making it difficult for CPSEs to undertake suppliers from them. An effort in aggregating such SC-ST enterprises for undertaking suppliers from CPSE need to be made. State Governments would be encouraged to nominate their organizations dealing with tribal to undertake such aggregation. Necessary support to such organizations would be provided by the SC-ST Hub in that aggregation activity.