A nationwide study on nearly 3,000 MSME owners from 25+ cities and 70+ business segments by NeoGrowth revealed that 96% of MSMEs expected profits to increase in 2023.
It is heartwarming to see the MSMEs, India’s economic backbone, believe in their potential for growth and success in times of global volatility. Their optimism is a good sign as we strive to fulfill the India@100 Dream.
The MSME Day is a dynamic platform to celebrate and support these vibrant businesses, providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape. And this year, the theme is “Future-ready MSMEs for India@100.”
But what exactly is the India@100 Dream, and how was ET MSME Day 2023 celebrated? Let’s find out!
India@100 Dream: Roadmap to Becoming a Developed Nation
The year 2047 is a now-or-never year for India as it celebrates 100 years of Independence. WHY?
The Developed India Mission, or the Viksit Bharat Abhiyan, is based on Prof. Rajendra Pratap Gupta’s analysis of India’s demographic dividend, addressed in his book, ‘Rebuilding India in the Next 25 Years – Tough Choices & Hard Decisions’.
India’s population today is such that every 3rd Indian is a youth. And this demographic dividend will peak in 2047, making it the perfect opportunity for India to accelerate and become a developed nation.
And MSMEs, a driving force for growth in India, are poised to play a crucial role. Thus, the need to shape them to become future-ready.
ET Make in India MSME Regional Summits
As part of a more concentrated effort to catalyze the growth of MSMEs in India, the Economic Times hosted a series of regional summits across the country.
The themes and tracks for this year were as follows –
- Industry 4.0 – Tracking digital transformation in manufacturing, production, and related industries along with value creation process
- SME financing – Unveiling challenges and needs for MSMEs and opportunities for SME finance providers
- Digit-All MSME – Explore the digital transformation of all MSMEs to enable the digital economy
- Make in India, Make for Globe – Decoding MSMEs path for India’s dream of $2 trillion exports by 2030
- Supply Chain & Logistics – Understanding the state of supply chain and logistics amidst a geopolitical crisis
- Diversity in the MSME sector – Enabling more women entrepreneurs and understanding and solving their unique challenges for inclusivity
- Skilling and Reskilling – Bridging the talent gap in the MSME Sector to meet the need for faster tech adoption
Brand Building and Marketing – Spotlighting its importance for MSMEs as they move towards international markets
Here’s the highlight of the regional summits:
Ahmedabad
RD Barhatt, the Joint Commissioner of Industries (Government of Gujarat), kickstarted the Ahmedabad summit by delivering a keynote on “Building future-ready MSMEs for India@100: Policies, schemes & initiatives to promote MSMEs in Gujarat.”
According to Barhatt, 50,000+ MSMEs in Gujarat benefitted from one of the schemes and incentives. Moreover, almost Rs. 9,000 crore incentives were paid out of the government treasury in only five years. He also highlighted Gujarat’s key role as an exporter for Make in India, Make for Globe.
Some of the other highlights of the summit include:
- Discussions on how to boost MSMEs’ competitiveness on a global stage
- Masterclass on how to adopt technology for Industry 4.0
- Challenges faced by MSMEs in Gujarat
“One of the key issues is the interest costs that have gone up, and this needs to be brought down or be incentivized by any means by the government or the banks. Second, the banks, especially the PSUs, are not hands-on when it comes to small and medium exporters, where they don’t have access to big corporate CAs or large firms. And the third is the Gujarat Industrial Development Corp has levied the charge of 18% GST for 2017-18 on GIDC land transfer; while many units have not paid because they were not aware of it and would not mind paying it, but we would want that added as an input tax credit, otherwise this will cause serious harm for the large, medium and small enterprises.”
~ Apurva Shah, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Chennai
The Chennai edition started with an inaugural keynote by Grace Lalrindiki Pachuau, Additional Commissioner of Industries and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu.
“The state has a thriving and vibrant MSME ecosystem, and the role of our department, The Industries and Commerce Department, and another organization called Fame TN. It’s called facilitating MSMEs of Tamil Nadu. This is a new body that we constituted in 2019….. Fame TN is what we can say guide a Fame 10 is to MSME is what guidance is for the larger Industries. So at Fame, we are continuously working to support and facilitate uh the growth and development of MSMEs throughout Tamil Nadu, and one of the things that we are doing is the creation of an industrial database….,” shared Grace Lalrindiki Pachuau.
Some other highlights of the summit were
- Talk on NSIC’S role in MSMEs unlock their growth potential by Saravana Kumar, Zonal General Manager, The National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC)
- Masterclass on “Decoding the Growth Playbook of a Made in Tamil Nadu Consumer Brand” by Nalini Parthiban, co-founder of Sweet Karam Coffee.
- Panel discussion on how to build competitiveness and accelerate the growth of MSMEs
- An inspiring story of Naturals Spa & Salon
Hyderabad
Rajkumar Ohatker, Additional Commissioner Industries (Telangana govt), inaugurated the Hyderabad session by highlighting the Telangana government’s strategic insurance policies, schemes, and initiatives.
The summit proceeded with the following:
- Addressing the issue of delayed payments to MSMEs via the M1xchange TReDS solution
- Exploring growth opportunities and challenges for Telangana MSMEs to fulfill the India@100 dream
- Talk about risk management tool
ET MSME Virtual Conclave
The ET MSME Virtual Conclave started with an opening keynote by the Hon’able Narayan Tatu Rane, Union Minister, Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
Furthermore, the Panel discussion on ‘Creating a $300 billion electronics industry by 2026’ shed light on how we can create a globally competitive Indian electronics industry. The focus was on investment strategies, R&D, domestic manufacturing, and more.
Speaking about banking the underserved MSMEs, R V S R A Kumar, General Manager-Commercial Banking Group, Karur Vyasa Bank, shared, “The dynamics of the markets are ever-changing. They’re so faster. I think there are disruptions happening in various segments where micro and small entrepreneurs are at the bottom of the pyramid in the entire scheme of things; So here adopting uh a kind of uh practical approach which takes into account the ground level dynamics of the business and helping these businesses to withstand the kind of uh headwinds that the economy is facing requires evolving methodologies which are more tuned to the business.”
Other highlights of the conclave included an insightful, in-depth discussion on whether India can script its own export-led growth strategy and how MSMEs are set to fuel a payment revolution in India.
Future Ahead
The MSMEs contributed 29% of the country’s GDP in 2022, and their contribution is expected to reach 50% by 2025. Furthermore, it’s the second-largest employment-generating sector.
Moving forward, MSMEs can expect the following:
- An increase in diversification
- Simplified financial solutions
- Benefit from trade policies India is signing with UAE, Australia, UK, and others
- Multi-pronged export strategy
- Emphasis on women-led business
- Resources to increase global competitiveness and more.
ET MSME Day 2023 and its discussion have fuelled conversations around finding better strategies, formulating better policies, and how MSMEs can meet their highest potential. Undoubtedly, the conjoined effort by the state and central governments and other institutions will significantly impact how MSMEs perform in the upcoming years because –
“Growth is never by chance; it is the result of forces working together.”
In line with MSME Day’s themes, StartInc too emphasises the importance of brand building and marketing for startups to foster growth. We aim to build your startup from the inside with tailored strategies backed by research and data.
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