New Delhi, February 1: The government on Friday announced 2 per cent interest subvention for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for loans up to Rs 1 crore.

"The government has taken many steps to support the MSME sector that provides jobs to crores of people in the country. We recently announced a facility to avail Rs 1 crore loan within 59 minutes," Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said while presenting the Interim Budget for 2019-20. Rail Budget 2019–20 Highlights: Piyush Goyal Puts Focus on Speed, Service and Safety, Allocates Rs 64,000 Crore for Railways.

"All MSME units registered with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will now have 2 per cent interest subvention for loans up to Rs 1 crore," he said. Budget 2019 Live News Updates: India Poised to Become 5 Trillion Dollar Economy in Next Five Years, Says Piyush Goyal in Interim Budget.

Goyal said the government had also increased the share of government procurements from MSMEs through Government eMarketplace (GeM) to 25 per cent, including 3 per cent from MSMEs run by women.

Till date, GeM has registered transactions of more than Rs 17,500 crore which has led to savings of 25-28 per cent.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2019 12:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).