Nagaland's MSME count crosses 48,000 with nano-enterprises dominant but underserved

Nagaland has registered 48,655 enterprises on the Udyam portal, the vast majority of them micro-level businesses with turnovers below Rs 25 lakh, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio told the state legislature on March 10— but a legislator warned that the smallest of these businesses remained starved of formal credit.

The debate was initiated under Rule 50 by Hekani Jakhalu, who described MSMEs as the "silent growth engine" of the state, quietly sustaining livelihoods and generating local jobs without leaning heavily on government salaries or financial support.

She noted that registrations had climbed from 27,083 in 2023-24 to over 48,000 following the launch of the World Bank-assisted RAMP scheme by Rio in August 2024.
Jakhalu flagged that nano-enterprises — the smallest businesses run by individuals or tiny partnerships operating across livestock, manufacturing, tailoring, welding, handicrafts, small shops and street vending — accounted for nearly 95 per cent of businesses in the state, yet remained the most underserved segment.

Many owners, she said, were forced to turn to informal lenders because institutional finance involved lengthy procedures, including project reports, departmental vetting and bank approvals.

She called on the government to revisit the Chief Minister's Micro Finance Initiative and create provisions specifically for nano-entrepreneurs, suggesting small loans of Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 — and up to Rs 1 lakh in some cases — to meet immediate needs such as raw materials, equipment and working capital.

Jakhalu also noted that Nagaland currently has 267 registered start-ups, including 92 private limited companies, which together generated revenue of around Rs 74 crore and created more than 1,500 jobs in 2024-25.

She flagged challenges including poor banking infrastructure, inconsistent power supply, high energy costs, bad road connectivity and multiple or unregulated taxation discouraging entrepreneurship and deterring outside investors. She stressed that Nagaland must align its development planning with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

Responding, Rio said 777 MSME units had been set up under the Chief Minister's Micro Finance Initiative, drawing investments of over Rs 65 crore through government subsidies and credit linkages. Thirteen MSME development projects were currently under implementation, while 15 more had been submitted to the Union Ministry of MSME for approval.

Under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, banks had sanctioned 66 of the 454 projects targeted for 2025-26, with 3,715 beneficiaries supported over the past five years.