Kerala’s MSME sector has made a big leap by adding over one lakh ventures for the second consecutive year in 2023-24, taking the total number of newly set up units to 2,40,396 since the launch of the Year of Enterprises in 2022-23.
The initiative also netted a total investment of ₹15,167.36 crore and created 5,09,740 jobs in the MSME sector in the last two years.
The programme had yielded an investment of ₹8,422 crore and generated 3,00,51 jobs in 2022-23. Keeping the momentum of growth, in 2023-24 (till March 15) the initiative netted an investment of ₹6,745.36 crore and created 2,10,776 jobs.
“This is an amazing achievement about which Kerala could be really proud of. The resounding success of the Year of Enterprises initiative and other projects of the Department of Industries and Commerce show that the right policy initiatives and their prompt implementation will yield handsome returns,” said P. Rajeeve, Industries Minister.
The Government declared 2022-23 as Year of Enterprises, setting a target of creating at least one lakh new enterprises and 3 to 4 lakh jobs. The project was launched by the Department of Industries & Commerce (DI&C) with the co-operation of Local Administration, Co-operation, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry departments.
Significantly, one-third of the units (31,419) started in 2023-24 were promoted by women entrepreneurs while 3375 enterprises were started by entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribes communities.
Ernakulam district led in having the largest number of units followed by Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram.
Of the total units started under the programme, 13,790 are in the manufacturing sector accounting for an investment of ₹1,428.15 crore, 44,468 units in the service sector with an investment of ₹2,705.13 crore and 42,298 commercial enterprises with an investment of ₹2,612.14 crores.
The ventures that put up excellent performance during a short span included agro & food processing, garments & textiles while the service sector enterprises related to hotels and restaurants, catering and garment designing and dress making.