Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the establishment of e-commerce export hubs to facilitate international market access for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and traditional artisans. These hubs will be developed through public-private partnerships, as revealed during the presentation of the Union Budget 2024-25.
“Focus on e-commerce hubs will help the D2C ecosystem, including small vendors and aggregators, to bring in greater efficiency in their operations and improve accessibility to markets, including exports,” said Anand Ramanathan, partner and consumer products and retail sector leader at Deloitte India.
The budget also introduced several measures to support the MSME and services sectors. One key initiative is the reduction of the turnover threshold for mandatory onboarding on the TReDS platform from Rs 500 crore to Rs 250 crore, aimed at helping MSMEs. Additionally, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will open 24 new branches to serve MSME clusters.
Finance Minister Sitharaman also announced a Rs 2.66 lakh crore allocation for rural development and a credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs to facilitate term loans without collateral or third-party guarantees. Moreover, a saturation drive will be launched under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN).