The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley launched CriSidEx, India's first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). It is developed jointly by CRISIL & SIDBI.
- Highlighting the significant role played by the MSME sector in the creation of jobs, Arun Jaitley mentioned that the MSME sector is the backbone of the Indian economy.
- He said that the economy is witnessing a phase of consolidation after a series of structural reforms over the last two years.
- The MSME sector is one of the largest employer in India and with the number of steps taken by the government in the past 2 years, there is an increased integration of MSME sector into the formal economy.
- He said that this is one sector where people not only exhibit their entrepreneurial skills, become part of large value chains but also become job creators in the process. And that is the reason why a bulk of the jobs in manufacturing, trading have been created in this particular sector.
What is CriSidEx?
- CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of 8 parameters and measures MSE business sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely negative) to 200 (extremely positive).
- The parametric feedback was captured through a survey of 1100 MSEs in November -December.
- The first report based on the index was launched on today. It captured qualitative responses of 1,100 MSEs, out of which 550 were manufacturing units and the other 550 services units.
- Once a trend emerges after few rounds of the survey, CriSidEx will have 2 indices, one for the 'survey quarter' and another for the 'next quarter'.
- The advantage of CriSidEx is that its readings will flag potential headwinds and changes in production cycles and thus help improve market efficiencies.
- By capturing the sentiment of exporters and importers, it will also offer actionable indicators on foreign trade.
- Between manufacturing and services, the sentiment was more positive in manufacturing, with more than half of the MSEs expecting faster growth in orders and improved capacity utilisation in January-March compared with less than a third in October-December.
