Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized MSME Summit, a Conference on ‘Empowering MSMEs and Bringing the Growth Back amidst the Changing Trade Dynamics’ for the benefit of Indian MSMEs. Addressing the conference, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, ITE&C depts, Government of Telangana in his inaugural address said that there are evident signs of economic recovery; the way the manufacturing sector is rebounding, and the increase in GST collection. And definitely there is opportunity for MSME start riding on this economic revival. He suggested that making effective use of digitalization; targeting newer domestic as well as export market and collaboration among MSMEs working in from same sector are the three key success mantras to achieve sustainable growth post COVID-19. This unprecedented scenario requires coordinated and genuine effort from within the sector to overcome supply chain challenges. There are solutions available but the need of the hour is to change mindsets, attitudes and make technology adoption easy. He mooted the idea of encouraging industry associations, particularly MSME associations to adopt and work very closely with ITIs, to overcome that challenges of skilled professional.
Speaking at Inaugural Session of the MSME Summit, Mr Jun Zhang Country Head- India, International Finance Corporation who joined from Washington briefed members on the International Finance Corporation’s operation in India. He added that USD 8 billion fund was fast tracked for financing and so far 4 billion USD has been dispersed to sustain businesses and preserve jobs after the outbreak. He added that IFC will continue implement its long term strategy on three pillars namely inclusion, productivity and sustainability.
Pranav Bhasin, Director, MSME & Seller Experience, Amazon India in his said that there is a 60%-80% spike in new sellers registering on Amazon.in. Today, there are more than 650,000 sellers on Amazon India marketplace from different corners of India and 90% of these sellers include micro-entrepreneurs as well as small and medium businesses. Telangana is an important market for us from that perspective and we have made significant investments here. From Telangana, we have over 23,000 sellers on Amazon.in selling a wide range of products. Through the Karigar initiative, we have on boarded more than 3000 master weavers, co-operatives, artisans and APEX bodies (including National Award-winning weavers) to sell online.
The conference was also addressed by OP Mishra, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India. He said that the government has been very proactive in identifying the issues faced by MSMEs and came up with various policies. In current times, there has been renewed interest among banks to facilitate MSME loans. In the state of Telangana only, there are exclusive 51 SMEs branch with dedicated managers to handle the requirements of SMEs only.
The Government of India’s target is to increase MSME’s present share of 29 percent of GDP to 50 percent in next five years and raise its export contribution from 49 percent to 60 percent. Hence there is a tremendous opportunity in Exports for MSMEs. We need to focus on enhancing the competitiveness of MSMEs so that they will be able to keep up the standards in Global market and compete with other nations; said Mr Mahesh Desai, Chairman, EEPC & Mentor – CII Telangana MSME Panel & Managing Director, Meera & Ceiko Pumps Pvt Ltd in his address.
Sameer Goel, Vice Chairman – CII Telangana & Managing Director, Coromandel International Ltd in his welcome address said, though a few MSMEs have received finance from banks post covid, there are several others are who need such assistance for their revival and get back to the normalcy. MSME lending can be the largest source of value creation for the financial services industry. It’s both an obligation and an opportunity whose time has come. It will have a multiplier effect on GDP. Mr AVS Reddy, Convener, CII Telangana MSME Panel & Managing Director, Appidi Technologies Pvt Ltd in his concluding remarks said that it is very glad to note that India’s merchandise exports increased by 6% to $27.58 billion in Sept 2020, imports decline by 19.6% to $221.86 billion in comparison to Sept 2019. It is good to note that many of the sectors have started recovering. I hope we will come to normalcy very soon.
Digitalization, Exploring New Markets, Collaboration will be key for MSMEs to get back to growth path, says Jayesh Ranjan
