“Digitalisation can help small businesses become resilient. For businesses, this means having the flexibility to adapt to disruptions and continue their operations, and digital technologies can serve as a tool for businesses in building their resilient capacity,” the minister said while speaking exclusively to ET Online on International MSME Day.
The United Nations General Assembly designated June 27 as “Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day” to raise awareness of the tremendous contributions of such enterprises to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. MSME Day 2023 marks the 6th anniversary of this General Assembly resolution.
The minister spoke about MSMEs being the backbone of India’s economy and how they can play an intrinsic role in India achieving its ambitions of a developed nation by 2047.
Directing attention to how small businesses pervade every aspect of our lives, the minister highlighted the vital contribution of such enterprises in day-to-day living. “From the food that we eat to the car that we drive – it would not be wrong to say that every product in our lives has seen some contribution of the other from an MSME. Small businesses have an outsized impact on our lives,” he said.
MSMEs need to be strong on tech, high on quality: MSME Minister Narayan Rane
The International MSME Day is celebrated every year on June 27 to honour MSMEs role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In his message to the community, Narayan Rane, Union Minister for MSME, talks about why MSMEs are the backbone of India’s economy and why they will play an intrinsic role in India’s achieving its ambitions of a developed nation by 2047.
Delving on the topic chosen by ET Rise this year for MSME Day – Future-ready MSMEs for India@100 – Rane said that it syncs up with the vision of the government in good measure. “The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot to improve MSMEs access to financing, information infrastructures and international markets. Providing regulatory, legal and financial frameworks conducive to entrepreneurship and small firms as well as startups has been our priority. Several measures have been taken to enhance the exports by MSMEs. These include efforts made under the Make in India programme, promotion of Ease of Doing Business, improved availability of credit through MUDRA as well as Stand up India.”
Alluding to how the emergence of online markets through e-commerce has had a positive impact on MSMEs in recent years, Rane said MSMEs stand to gain significantly by adopting e-commerce. “Aspects such as increased revenues and margins, improved market reach, access to new markets, savings in marketing spending, customer acquisition and enhanced customer experience can come by for small businesses. The Ministry of MSME is committed towards providing requisite support to the MSMEs and upcoming entrepreneurs in strengthening the Indian economy and working towards the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.
The minister added that digital technologies are a great leveller. Advancement of digital technologies and development of digital service models, he stated, offer small businesses enhanced accessibility to business tools. “This can allow SMEs to quickly adapt their activities during a crisis and compete with larger businesses even in terms of capacity and quality. Small businesses also need to sharpen their management skills, the capacity to gather information and their technology base,” he said.
The minister also elaborated on how the India story is finding enthusiasm everywhere and the role that MSMEs can play to leverage such sentiments. “MSMEs can play a pivotal role in taking this story forward and we have onboarded various steps to make that vision a reality. We are ensuring that the sector receives an unhindered credit flow from financial institutions, technology support for development and modernisation, access to export markets, infrastructure facility, training and capacity building facility and welfare of the workforce,” he stated.
Reiterating that the role of India’s 63 million MSMEs was integral in taking India forward in its economic growth and journey, the minister said that their journey towards excellence must continue. “On this International MSME Day, I want to extend my good wishes to all MSMEs and encourage them to carry forth with the resilience they have exhibited in the most turbulent times. MSMEs are growth accelerators contributing significantly to GDP and need to be strengthened,” he said.
Emphasising on the role of innovation in sustaining such momentum, the minister added that tech-based acceleration must be central to their ethos. “It is time that we show our strengths as a nation to the world and the MSME sector is well poised to do that at this juncture,” he added.
