Trade, import and export for MSMEs: The price of sanitizer has been brought down from Rs 1,200 per litre during the early days of the Covid pandemic to Rs 160 per litre, according to MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari. The size of Indian hand sanitizer market is likely to cross $43 million by 2025.
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.
Source: Financial Express
