“On the occasion of International SME Day, I would like to congratulate and compliment all MSMEs and entrepreneurs for their excellent contribution to the economy of the country which has created huge employment opportunities for millions of people,” says R Narayan, Founder & CEO, Power2SME & President, FICCI-CMSME.
We all truly deserve to celebrate this day with new vigour and commitment towards making the MSME sector grow manifold and become globally competitive. Here, I would like to take a step back and analyse what a tough year our MSMEs have been through. Their resilience and efforts need to be applauded and we need to make sure that we create the perfect ecosystem for them to put their best foot forward, he added. The MSME sector is not only the backbone of the country but is also the overarching inertia that has the capacity to thrust the economy to greater heights. To be at par with developed nations, we must start new economic tidings with a serious commitment to increase the MSME’s contribution to the country’s GDP to 50 per cent to provide the impetus the sector needs.
One of the most important lessons of COVID is to always have a recovery plan – each company devised their own assessment to see how much ground has been lost and what steps they need to take for full recovery. While MSMEs should take full advantage of the credit schemes announced in the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan relief package, they are also encouraged to be aware of any changes in compliance-related laws and meet them without fail so that we can strike while the iron is hot.
In the wake of COVID, the world is on the search for new global suppliers, and we must seize the opportunity and prove our mettle through “Make in India” to become the global suppliers to the world, thus boosting domestic industries. To achieve this, we need to boost the international competitiveness of the Indian MSMEs by making them aware of global trends, practices and standards in export financing, along with experience sharing by successful exporters. We need to provide the MSMEs a platform to understand the opportunities in the international market and encourage them to evaluate options and opportunities of international trade. They also need to be given information on global market demand, ease of export financing for exports; and developing strategies to penetrate new markets.
The lockdown has exposed the need for secure remote working capabilities across sectors. This presents our MSMEs with the perfect opportunity to streamline their operations by adopting online payment systems, as well as investing in cloud-based supply chain technology, workflow management tools, and data security measures. For Indian SMEs to be merged with the global supply chains, it is imperative that they are well-versed with Industry 4.0 for seamless and well-tracked operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic will be known in history as “The Great Leveller” as it has brought all nations, all commerce and all working systems we know them down to their knees and left the global economy in a massive lurch. How we gather ourselves out of this phase is being keenly watched by the world and shall determine our performance in the arena of global commerce. The time is ripe for recalibration and the flexing of this great backbone which holds promise to make India the proverbial golden bird once again.
The first ‘Buying Club’ for SMEs in India, Power2SME, financially backed by Nandan Nilekani, Inventus Capital Partners, Kalaari Capital, International Finance Corporations (IFC) and Accel Partners, began operations in 2012. Committed to empowering SMEs by increasing their profits, Power2SME focuses on reducing purchase prices for SMEs and enhancing productivity. Power2SME enables SME clients to focus on their core business of driving growth and expansion, while taking on the role of sourcing input raw materials at the most competitive price points across multiple products in categories such as Metal, Commodity Polymer, Engineering Polymer, Chemicals, Paints, Solar, Yarn etc. The company, today, has 8 offices spread across Gurugram, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar, & Bangalore, with a team of 200+ employees across India. Power2SME works with established and trusted suppliers such as SAIL, TATA Steel, ESSAR Steel, JSW, Rathi Steel, Victor Exim, Balaji Enterprise, POSCO Steel, Apollo Pipes, JSL, and many more.
