Despite the fact that West Bengal might have an anti-industry image after the Singur and Nandigram episodes, a recent study by credit rating agency, CRISIL, has revealed that in Eastern India, the state is the best performer in terms of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Moreover, it hosts the maximum number of MSMEs in the region. The study, conducted among 10,000 MSMEs, compares the performance of enterprises in three key areas — business strength, management competence, and financial soundness.
“Enterprises based in West Bengal appear to be performing better, followed by Jharkhand. Businesses in these states are in a robust position and have demonstrated a superior ability to overcome risks emanating from product, customer, and geographic concentration,” the report said.
An analysis of entities engaged in the steel and steel-related products and engineering industry said, “West Bengal stand out for their performance in business strength and management competence, whereas there are areas of improvement on parameters pertaining to financial performance.”
It that MSMEs in West Bengal, followed by Jharkhand, lead the eastern region of the country in terms of business strength. CRISIL has been rating MSMEs since 2005, and has assigned more than 16,000 ratings so far. It currently rates more than 700 new enterprises on an average, each month. These enterprises are located across the country, and vary in constitution, size, and industry.
On management competence, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand are closely tied up with each other, whereas Orissa clearly lags behind the other states. On financial soundness, Chhattisgarh emerges as the leader followed by West Bengal. Overall, Chhattisgarh outperforms West Bengal marginally, primarily driven by its superior performance on financial soundness.
“Kolkata is an important industrial hub in eastern India, and therefore, a key market where industry best practices should be highlighted.” said Yogesh Dixit, head of CRISIL Ratings, during an MSME chief executive officers’ conference in Kolkata on Wednesday.
