BEIJING — China has incubated 4,762 national-level "little giant" enterprises to date, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Nov 23.

"Little giant" firms are small enterprises that are still in the early stage of development and focus on the new generations of information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, biomedicine and other high-end fields.

The operating incomes and total profits of "little giant" enterprises respectively increased 31.6 percent and 67.9 percent in the first nine months of this year, Xu Xiaolan, vice-minister of the MIIT, told a news briefing.

The "little giant" enterprises have strong innovation capacities and development resilience, Xu said, adding that a majority of them are operating in basic industrial fields and have invested more than 10 million yuan (about $1.56 million) in research and development.

Zou Lan, an official with the People's Bank of China, said at the briefing that the country has also increased financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including "little giant" enterprises that focus on specialization, refinement, uniqueness and innovation.

By the end of October this year, more than 70 percent of "little giant" enterprises were able to obtain loans, and their average loan balance was 75.26 million yuan.

The MIIT will fully support the SMEs in overcoming difficulties and pursuing innovative development, Xu said.