The Union Cabinet will take up the new procurement policy for small-and-medium enterprises soon,

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a senior central government official said here today.

"It has been pending with the Cabinet for a while now, and I hope that the Cabinet will take it up any time soon," Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Secretary Dinesh Rai said on the sidelines of the Small Business Congress 2010, being organised by Franchise India, here today.

The MSME procurement policy, finalised by Prime Minister's Taskforce on MSMEs, proposes to make it compulsory for government departments and public sector units to source 20 per cent of their procurement needs from small and micro units, though defence units may be exempted due to quality requirements.

Early this month, MSMEs Minister Dinsha Patel had said the Ministry was finalising the proposed policy for sending it to the Cabinet.

"A proposal for a comprehensive public procurement policy to benefit micro and small enterprises is under finalisation in consultation with the ministries/departments concerned," Patel told the Lok Sabha.

A task force chaired by the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, T K A Nair, had proposed a compulsory procurement policy for MSMEs to help them improve their bottom lines and broadly encourage small-and-medium businesses in the country.