India / MSMEs helped India to have surplus PPE kits, sanitizers: Gadkari

New Delhi: Trade, import and export for MSMEs: Micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) minister Nitin Gadkari has hailed the contribution of MSMEs in the country’s fight against the Covid pandemic. Particularly with respect to the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and sanitizers, the minister claimed that India has achieved a surplus in the two categories because of which they are being exported now. Addressing the members of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in a video conference, the minister said, “two months before, we imported PPE kits from China but today MSME industry is making 5 lakh PPE kits per day.” For instance, “in Nagpur cluster, 17 partners are there. With the co-operation of the MSME ministry, the cluster is doing an excellent job. Today the cluster is making 10,000-12,000 PPE kits per day. Now we are surplus and have given NOC for exports and are exporting it,” Gadkari said.

Last month textiles minister Smriti Irani had also tweeted the update on PPE kits production in India. As on May 18, according to Irani, India had crossed per day PPE kits production of 4.5 lakh and there was more than 600 companies lab certified to manufacture PPE. A kit comprises of gown, gloves, shoe cover, masks, and eye shield used by healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses etc.

Moreover, India has also been able to ramp production of sanitizers to fight Covid pandemic. According to Gadkari, “when pandemic started, sanitizer rate was Rs 1,200 per litre. But I requested all sugar mills, ethanol companies in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra etc. (for sanitizer production) and requested state government to give them food and drug license. Now we are making sanitizers for which the rate is Rs 160 per litre. Now we are exporting sanitizers as well.” The market size of Indian hand sanitizer market is likely to cross $43 million by 2025, as per a TechSci Research report.

The government had earlier last month has clarified that exports of non-alcohol based sanitizers is permitted but alcohol-based sanitizers cannot be exported. Earlier, the government, in a release, had said that sanitizer export will be banned along with ban on ventilators, artificial respiratory apparatus, oxygen therapy apparatus, and any other breathing appliance will be extended due to Covid scare.

Gadkari also stressed on the increased investors’ interest across the globe to invest in India that the country can leverage as businesses look to relocate operations from China to other countries. “Investors in the whole world are interested to invest in India because they are getting more returns in India and investment is secured,” he said citing an example of South Korea where “you have to pay interest for depositing money in a bank instead of getting the interest. Same is the situation in Japan.”