All India Management Association (AIMA) in collaboration with Delhi Management Association (DMA) organised a day workshop for SMEs in New Delhi today. The workshop held today was the 15th in row after having successfully conducted in Coimbatore, Cochin, Indore , Hyderabad, Kanpur, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Noida, Chandigarh, Surat, Ludhiana, Lucknow and Guwahati and Kolkata.
Mr. Dinesh Rai, Secretary to the MSME Government of India in his inaugural address said that “SMEs play a very important development role in building the nation and the dignity of self employment with very less investment. The SME sector is able to provide a job for every one lakh of investment which goes up to 5 - 7 lakhs of investment in the heavy engineering sector. The sector has shown a consistent high rate of growth. With the sector finding preferential government funding in the form of stimulus packages and infrastructural projects have also helped the sector in the interiors”
“A census report on the micro, small and medium enterprises in the country, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the sector, will be released soon. We have conducted a census (for MSMEs) and we are expecting the results very soon," MSME Secretary Dinesh Rai said.
Mr.Rai further added, “The report would be of a great help to the government in chalking out policies for the sector, which has taken a hit due to the ongoing global economic crisis. Once we have this data, we will be in a position to have more policy initiative in the area. The Economic Survey 2008-09 had said that due to limited data available on the sector, it was difficult to assess the impact of global slowdown on MSMEs.”
The sector employs about 420 lakh people and contributes around 40 per cent to both the country's industrial output exports. The report would also provide information on production, raw-material, employment, exports, assets, plant and machinery, products and services, net worth, loan taken by enterprises and outstanding debt, besides assessing the sick units under each category.
According to available data (Micro Small & Medium Enterprises) MSME’s contribute to about 7% of the GDP, this was disclosed in a presentation given by Mr. J S Juneja past president AIMA and Chairman of the SME Committee. Setting the theme of the day workshop Mr. Juneja gave an overview of the sector in reference to the present economic scenario. He also highlighted the full support given by the government to the sector. Majority of the sector are privately owned and family run businesses with little exposure to capital and technological advancements. Such workshops would help the sector to be more organised and be fully aware of best practices and more open to adopt technological changes.
The workshop saw the best of NSIC,Public sector Banks, Credit rating agencies, Industry representatives giving their presentations and Case studies with their first hand experiences to the gathering. It was found that the sector needed proper guidance and transparency to gain funds and much needed technological upgradation.
The Small & Medium Enterprises are spread all over the country and contributing very significantly to India’s economic development and their contribution to industrial production, employment creation, exports etc. SMEs also provide seedbed for enterprise development. However, SMEs have been facing serious constraints and problems for their growth and development, more so in the context of globalization of the Indian economy. The Government of India has come out with the legislation to intensify its support to small enterprises and broad base their spread to include the medium enterprises and services sector apart from the micro enterprises.
Discussion with the bankers, credit rating agencies & other stakeholders have indicated that SMEs need skills not only to manage their funds but also to develop their capacity to formulate their proposals effectively seeking finance as Bankers are ready to finance SMEs if managed well.
The session saw the participation of over 100 bank officials, students, corporate managers and industry representatives. Other key speakers present were Mr. S C Sinha, Executive Director, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Mr. T S Oberoi, AGM, State Bank of India.
ABOUT AIMA:
Founded in 1957 All India Management Association (AIMA) is an autonomous body which plays a proactive role in pooling management thoughts within the country. It is a platform to develop National Managerial ethos and an organization to facilitate the furtherance of the management profession in the country. The Management Aptitude Test (MAT) conducted by AIMA since 1988 is another feather in the organizations cap.
