The Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow is organising an ‘India SME conclave’ on December 21 to discuss the competitiveness of the sector in the backdrop of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) era. The small and medium enterprises (SME) sector is the growth engine of the Indian economy and contributes over 40 per cent to the country’s industrial output and around 35 per cent to direct exports. The theme of the conclave is ‘Low cost financing options and the impact of FTAs on the SME sector in India’.