Telangana plans MSME Centre of Excellence and monthly grievance day for small firms

Telangana plans to set up a Centre of Excellence for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and to hold a monthly MSME Grievance Day, the state's IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said on Saturday, 10 October 2026. He made the announcement in Hyderabad while inaugurating the LUB MSME South India Summit, organised by the Telangana unit of Laghu Udyog Bharati, an association of small industries, at a hotel in Banjara Hills. The minister said the centre would help small businesses adopt modern technology, raise investment and reach wider markets, including promoting products made in Telangana in national and international markets. Both measures are at the planning stage.

Many small businesses work with older machines, thin margins and limited access to finance, and often cannot afford consultants to help them automate, meet quality standards or find buyers outside their own city. A state-backed Centre of Excellence is meant to fill that gap by offering shared expertise, so that a small factory owner can learn about new technology, certification or export markets without paying for it alone.

The grievance day may matter even more to many owners. Small units often complain of delays in approvals, power connections, payments from larger buyers and problems in industrial estates. A fixed monthly day for hearing such complaints gives them a predictable route to officials. Whether it works will depend on how quickly the problems raised are actually resolved.

The announcement fits a wider push on small business this month. On 6 October the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund to invest equity in growing small and medium firms, with a focus on manufacturing and on industrial clusters in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. On 9 October, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran called for a rethink of the uniform 90-day rule used to classify overdue MSME loans. Telangana's plans add a state-level layer of support on technology and grievance handling.

Short-term: Small industry groups in Telangana are likely to press for details such as the centre's location, funding and services, and for the first grievance day to be scheduled.

Long-term: If the centre is set up and well run, it could help Telangana's small manufacturers modernise, meet buyer standards and sell beyond the state, supporting jobs in industrial estates around Hyderabad and in smaller towns.

Who is affected: Owners and workers of MSMEs in Telangana, industry associations such as Laghu Udyog Bharati, the state's industries department, and larger companies that buy from small suppliers.

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