ET MSME Regional Summit in Hyderabad: Stakeholders outline a roadmap to empower Telangana’s MSME ecosystem, address key challenges and opportunities

“Telangana state is doing very well in ease of doing business (EODB) and other flagship programmes, I would like to emphasise the flagship programme of our industries department, which is TS-iPass, which is the most envisaged and important programme of our department,” said Rajkumar Ohatker, Additional Commissioner Industries, Government of Telangana during his keynote address at the recently concluded Hyderabad edition of the ET Make in India – MSME Regional Summit 2023.

“‘TS-iPass’ gives the necessary clearances within the stipulated timelines to set up industries in our state and this act has been implemented (right) from the formation of Telangana state right from 2014 onwards. And under this act within the stipulated time of 30 days, we ensure that all the clearances are given to the industry being set up in the department,” he added.

Ohatker was speaking on the theme of ‘Building future-ready MSMEs for India@100: Policies, schemes & initiatives to promote MSMEs in Telangana’ where he spotlighted various strategic policies, innovative schemes, and impactful initiatives implemented by the Telangana government to empower the MSME sector.

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The Hyderabad edition of the ET Make in India – MSME Regional Summit convened key stakeholders of the local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) leaders, entrepreneurs and policymakers to delve into the Telangana’s rapidly evolving MSME industry, which is one of the foundational pillars of the state’s robust economy.

With a staggering 2.6 million MSMEs, the state of Telangana is a dynamic hub of diverse industries and the state’s MSME sector today, poses a productive ecosystem for entrepreneurial ventures, attracting attention and investments from large global companies. The other key speakers at the event included R. Veerabhadra Rao, Deputy General Manager, NSIC-Balanagar, Telangana; Roy Mathew Kurian, Chief Business Officer, M1xchange; Anil Agarwal, President, Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI); Dr. S. Glory Swarupa, Director General, National Institute for MSME (ni-msme), Hyderabad; K Rama Devi, Founder and President, Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India (ALEAP) and NK Muthappa,Vice President, Business Development, MCX.The event featured a series of engaging talks, panel discussions, and masterclasses covering a wide range of topics relevant to the MSME sector, throughout the day. These included crafting policies and steering initiatives to fuel MSME growth, streamlining financial management to unlock growth opportunities, enhancing ease of doing business, understanding risk management and financial tools, and unveiling strategies for global growth.

Dr. S. Glory Swarupa, Director General, National Institute for MSME (ni-msme), Hyderabad highlighted the importance of empowering the youth through skill development. She said, “We have covered close to one lakh youth from Telangana, which means (youth from) Hyderabad and the surrounding districts have been skilled in our campus. The ministry and the Assistance Through Training institutions (ATI) scheme have been supporting our skill development programme.”

Echoing similar thoughts on the significance of importance of upskilling and reskilling, Anil Agarwal, President, Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) said “Recently, we have started one skill centre, to upskill, re-skill, improve employability, and to bridge the gap between the requirement of the industry and the available talent. From an industry background, we know there is a gap between the available talent and the industry requirement. So, as a federation, we have decided to set up a skill centre to bridge that gap.”

Further speaking on the role of women in entrepreneurship and its significance and impact on the Indian MSME industry K Rama Devi, Founder and President, Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India (ALEAP) said, “we started woman entrepreneurship with an organisation called ALEAP, women need some kind of economic activity, the empowerment of women starts with economic activities is what we believed.”

“We went to the extent of even implementing infrastructure development for women, particularly in the form of industrial parks, again, supported by ministry MSME and our initiative is well supported by the state and central government.” Along its journey, ALEAP also identified the credit gaps that were affecting the progress of the MSME sector, so they introduced lending access to credit as credit is like oxygen for their business, explained K Rama Devi as she elaborated on the efforts undertaken by ALEAP and the MSME ministries.

In other insightful sessions, Roy Mathew Kurian, Chief Business Officer, M1xchange, addressed the need for simplifying financial management for MSMEs, whereas R. Veerabhadra Rao, Deputy General Manager, NSIC-Balanagar, Telangana shared insights on how NSIC is helping MSMEs unlock their growth potential. NK Muthappa,Vice President, Business Development, MCX also gave a presentation on how MSMEs can leverage base metals hedging as an effective risk management tool.

The Hyderabad edition of the ET Make in India MSME Regional Summits was presented by the Economictimes.com in partnership with Aurobindo Realty as the Presenting Partner, Karur Vysya Bank as the Gold Partner, and MCX as the Awareness Partner. The next in line are ET Make in India MSME Regional Summit in Indore on July 8, followed by the ET MSME Awards 2023.

To register and learn more about the ET Make in India MSME Regional Summit in Indore, please visit: Click Here.