13th Global SME Business Summit 2016 to Promote Global SME Partnerships
MSMEs have always played a vital role in the growth of India’s economy. With around 51.1 million units throughout the geographical expanse of the country, MSMEs contribute around 38% of the national GDP and provide employment opportunities to over 120 million people across the country. Accelerated MSME growth is fundamental to India achieving and sustaining a high GDP growth.
Many global companies are increasingly looking to Indian MSMEs for strategic partnerships of mutual benefit due to the innovative capabilities in niche manufacturing, comparative advantages of advanced engineering, low-cost manufacturing and overheads, ability to speedily absorb new technologies and local skills and capabilities that set these enterprises apart from other national and international players in the sector. But identifying suitable global markets, partners and emerging business opportunities can be challenging for MSMEs owing to factors such as information asymmetries, lack of scale economies, inadequate technical and managerial acumen, etc. In order to promote and foster global SME partnerships, CII, in partnership with the Ministry of MSME, organized the 13th Global SME Business Summit 2016 on 22-23 November 2016.
Speaking at the Summit, Shri Mr Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for MSME stated that India can lead the world in the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the back of several pro-business reforms and MSME development initiatives and the government’s emphasis on Zero Defect, Zero Effect (ZED) manufacturing will catalyze this. The Minister also stated that the focus of the Ministry is on promoting the global competitiveness of India MSMEs through simplification of business regulations. According to him, the launch of Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum has led to the simplification of MSME registration to a great extent by reducing the registration time to only about 3-5 minutes.
According to Shri Haribhai Chaudhary, Minister of State for MSME, many countries are keen to do business with the Indian government due to business reforms in areas such as credit facilitation, technology upgradation, manufacturing excellence, etc. The National SC/ST Hub launched recently by the government will promote entrepreneurship among the underprivileged sections of society and will be a significant step towards balanced and inclusive development, he stated.
Shri Surendra Nath Tripathi, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME also attended the Summit and stated that strong links at policy level between various governments are imperative for facilitating strong global partnerships.
The two ministers launched the CII Technology Facilitation Centre, a new CII initiative to enhance the access to technology for Indian MSMEs and create financial literacy by partnering with top technological solution providers.
At the Summit, Mr Abdulla Al Saleh, Undersecretary-Foreign Trade & Industry, Ministry of Economy, UAE stated that over 25% of the population of UAE is Indian which contributes significantly to various economic activities. He shared that 85% of the total investment in India by the GCC countries is accounted for by UAE. SMEs are particularly significant for emerging markets such as India and UAE and collaborations and partnerships can multiply the strength of our SMEs, he felt.
The Summit featured focused regional and country sessions on Latin America, Europe, Asia, UAE, Egypt, USA, New Zealand and France to explore latest global industry trends and to highlight the emerging business opportunities across the globe for gainful SME partnerships.
The Summit also included master classes on e-commerce, digital marketing, standards and certifications and MSME integration in global supply chains in order to leverage these emerging trends for enhancing the competitiveness of MSMEs. A diverse participants’ profile, inclusive of senior government officials, high commissioners and ambassadors of various countries, trade and commercial officers, procurement heads of global OEMs and leading Indian companies, financial sector executives, SME delegations from across the world, etc. engaged in over 1000 one to one meetings to explore mutually beneficial areas of partnerships. The Summit also included an India SME Expo where over 40 exhibitors showcased various products and services for enha ncing SME productivity and competitiveness.