The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved USD 808 million or Rs 6,062.45 crore for the World Bank-assisted “Rising and Accelerating MSME Performance” (RAMP) programme. RAMP is a new scheme and will start in FY 2022-23.

The plan is to invest a total of Rs 6,062.45 crore or USD 808 million, of which Rs 3750 crore or USD 500 million will be loaned from the World Bank, and the rest Rs 2312.45 crore or USD 308 million will be funded by the Government of India. RAMP is a World Bank-assisted central sector scheme. Its purpose is to improve and speed up the performance of MSMEs affected by Corona. In this work, it will strengthen the efforts of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME).

It aims to improve access to markets and credit, strengthen institutions and governance at the Center and the State, improve Centre-State relations and partnerships, address delayed payment issues and improve MSMEs. Apart from building the capacity of MoMSMEs at the national level, the RAMP program will seek to increase the implementation capacity and MSME coverage in the states.

What else was decided in the meeting of the Union Cabinet

In the meeting of the Union Cabinet, it has also been decided to increase the dearness allowance for central employees and dearness relief for central pensioners. It has been increased by 3 percent. With this, it is now 34 percent of the basic salary or pension. Earlier, the dearness allowance was 31 percent of the basic salary.

This has been doubled in the last one year. In July 2021, the government had increased the dearness allowance from 17 percent to 28 percent, and then it was increased to 31 percent in September 2021. Now it has been increased again, making it 34 percent.