Kerala, the Land of Enterprises

Shabeer M.
Deputy Director
Directorate of Industries and Commerce

 

The Government of Kerala had declared the Financial Year 2022-23 as the Year of Enterprises (YoE) with the motto ‘My enterprise, Nation’s pride’. The main objective of this initiative was to encourage and promote Micro, Small and Medium level entrepreneurs in the state by creating one lakh new enterprises in Kerala during the FY 2022-23. The Government was able to achieve the ambitious target of commencing one lakh new enterprises within a remarkable period of 250 days from 1st of April to 7th of December, 2022. 1,39,840 enterprises are registered in the state, as of March 2023, bringing in an investment of Rs. 8422 Crore and creating 3,00,051 new employment opportunities. In view of this remarkable success of the Year of Enterprises initiative, the state government decided to continue all the activities carried out as part of the initiative in the financial year 2023-24 as well.

The initiative was conducted under the name Year of Enterprises 2.0. The main objectives of this initiative was to create 1,00,000 MSMEs in the state with special focus to increase the per unit investments and job creation, also ensuring sustainability of the units formed as part of the initiative, providing marketing and financial support and enhancing the skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs. Using the systems established as part of the Year of Enterprises initiative, 1,03,595 units were established in the state with an overall investment of Rs.7,048. 56crores from April 1st, 2023, to March 31st, 2024. These units were able to create 2,18,178 jobs in the state. Further, the initiative is continued in the FY 2024- 25 as Year of Enterprises 3.0. As part of this, more than 1,06,339 enterprises have been registered in the state during April 1st, 2024 to March 17th 2025 with an overall investment of Rs.6967 Crores. These units were able to create 2,23,990 jobs in the state. In total, more than 3,49,781 MSMEs have been registered in the state as part of the Year of Enterprises initiative with an investment of Rs.22,437 Crores and creating more than 7,42,232 jobs. The YoE initiative was able to meet the objectives to reach to all the sections of the society, including the weaker sections with 60% (2,09,814) of the units being formed by entrepreneurs from OBC category, 7% (25,802) from minority categories, 3.6% (12,514) from SC category and 0.3% (1009) from the ST categories. Around one third of the units (1,11,409units) were formed by the women entrepreneurs, thus contributing significantly to the women empowerment initiatives of the government.

Path-breaking Measures towards Success

towards Success This achievement was made possible by introducing various sustainable systems at all levels. As part of the Year of Enterprises 2022-23, to assist the entrepreneurs in every aspect of setting up an enterprise, the following systems were put in place.

1. 1153 professionals with B. Tech / MBA qualifications were recruited and deployed as Enterprise Development Executives (EDEs) at all 1034 local bodies across the State. The EDEs were given continuous capacity building trainings from time-to-time, in all aspects of industrial facilitation to provide awareness to entrepreneurs on the various services available, and to assist the entrepreneurs in aspects of application for licenses, subsidies, loans, etc. in coordination with various agencies and departments.

2. Help desks were established at all the 1034 local bodies across the State. Through these help desks, the public could avail the services of the interns in all industry / enterprise setting-up related matters.

3. Continuous campaigns starting from General Orientation Training to potential entrepreneurs, Loan, License, Subsidy mela for entrepreneurs, Marketing festivals for providing marketing avenues to newly formed enterprises were conducted at all local bodies.

4. Enterprise loan scheme was introduced which provided interest subvention to make finance available at 4% interest rate. Under this scheme, MSME units that were established after 01.04.2022 (evidenced through UDYAM Registration) could avail term loans and working capital loans at an effective interest rate of 4% after interest subvention from the Government.

5. MSME Clinics were established to give support to those enterprises requiring consultancy. Through this facility provided in each District Industries Centre, all entrepreneurs could interact with the already empanelled experts in each sector (Law, Marketing, DPR preparation, Export, GST, Technology, Consents, Licenses and Banking) in a pre-assigned date and time and clear their queries/ doubts.

6. The Department set up MSME facilitation centres in all the 59 Taluk Industries Offices across the State with the posting of Taluk Resource Persons with qualification BTech/MBA/MCA and knowledge in computer data entry. The role of these TRPs is to assist the entrepreneurs to file online applications for clearances, registration, assistances etc.

7. District Resource Persons (DRPs) were appointed at all District Industries Centres to provide support to the people availing the help desks established. Call centres were also operated in these help desks through which the beneficiaries could avail the services of the DRPs without visiting the Office.

MSME Scale up Mission

The initiative is aimed at scaling up 1000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State into businesses with an average annual turnover of Rs. 100 crores within a span of four years. MSMEs were selected through an objective criteria-based process. Any MSME that has valid UDYAM registration, operating in Manufacturing or Services sector and has been functional for the past 3 years are eligible for applying for assistance under the initiative. The assistances offered to selected enterprises include:

■ Assistance to prepare scale up DPR up to Rs. 1 lakh per enterprise

■ Fixed capital assistance up to 40% limited to Rs. 200 lakhs for the cost of expansion/ scaling up

■ Reimbursement of 50% of interest paid for Working Capital loan limited to Rs. 50 lakhs

■ One to one handholding by assigning an officer from the Industries Department to each selected enterprises to assist them in their various scalingup related activities

As of March 17th, 2025, 292 enterprises have been enrolled under the Mission 1000 scheme and are in the process of scale up DPR preparation.Of the selected units, DPRs prepared by 44 units for scaling up activities have also been approved. The Enterprise Development Executives (EDEs) visited all the units that were formed as part of a sustainability survey. The study revealed that only 15% of enterprises in Kerala shut down within their first year, which stands in contrast to the national average of 30%.

Kerala Brand (Made in Kerala)

Kerala Brand is envisaged to deliver an appealing image of Kerala’s products/ services to the global customer. It will project Kerala’s commitment to quality, ethical and responsible industrial practices and enable Kerala’s enterprises in tapping into the global market potential by creating a unique identity for the indigenous products “Made in Kerala”. Products/ services which are being produced/ offered in an environmentally sustainable way, following ethical practices and conform to specific quality standards and certifications, will be identified from selected sectors for identifying under the Kerala Brand. In the initial phase, the government has introduced Kerala Brand for Coconut Oil manufacturers in the state. As part of receiving applications for Kerala Brand, an online portal has been developed (www.keralabrand.industry.kerala. gov.in).As of March 17th, 2025, 11 coconut oil manufacturing units in the state have been awarded Kerala Brand.