Bolstering micro enterprises, women entrepreneurs get top focus at ET Make in India SME Summit in Chennai

Micro enterprises form a majority of MSMEs in the country and the government should give special attention to these small businesses, said Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, Member of Parliament from Chennai-North, while addressing the ET Make in India SME Regional Summit in Chennai on August 10.

“In India, there are about 6 crore 33 lakh MSMEs. But around 6 crore 30 lakh of these fall under micro industries and only about 3 lakh fall in the category of small and medium enterprises. I have urged the Union Government to form a separate ministry for micro industries because entrepreneurs in this category struggle a lot and need the most help,” he said while giving the keynote address.

The ET Make in India SME Regional Summit is a series of events held across India to bring together local MSMEs, policymakers, enablers and industry stakeholders in the respective regions. These summits aim to unravel opportunities, tackle challenges and foster knowledge-sharing and networking to propel the next phase of growth for Indian MSMEs.

The ET Make in India SME Regional Summit in Chennai focussed on discussing ways to improve the state’s manufacturing and export might. The keynote address was on “Doing Business in Tamil Nadu: How the Government Supports TN’s Trade and Industry”. The summit saw a full house that brought together a range of entrepreneurs, industrialists, policymakers and sectoral experts to discuss ways to strengthen the industrial ecosystem in the region.

Women entrepreneurs
The MP’s address ended with an interactive session where a number of attendees posed queries on the state government’s support to MSMEs. Answering one of the queries, Veeraswamy mentioned that Tamil Nadu has one of the highest number of women entrepreneurs in the country. “About 25% of our MSMEs are women entrepreneurs which, I feel, is very commendable. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of women participation in industrial employment. When we compare it with the national average of about 18% or so, Tamil Nadu has more than 40%, which is very creditable,” he said.

ET Online

Gaurav Anshuman, General Manager, ECGC said that there is always scope for diversification and it is expected that entrepreneurs should expand their business.

Next on the agenda was a fireside chat with Gaurav Anshuman, General Manager, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd, on “Unlocking Global Opportunities: The Role of ECGC in MSME Export Growth”. Anshuman explained to the audience how their insurance products help diversifying the business. “There is a thumb rule that you cannot depend on one buyer alone. So if your entire business is stacked on one or limited buyers, you have a greater risk. There is always a need and scope for diversification and it is expected that entrepreneurs should expand their business,” he stated, adding that 90% of their clients are MSMEs.Formalising MSMEs
After the insightful fireside chat, Ekambaram Ramasamy, Senior Advisor, FaMe TN, gave a special address that discussed Tamil Nadu’s industrial advantages. The government wants to register all MSMEs in a formalised form so that policies can be accordingly framed for them, he said. “98-99% of the MSMEs are micro. So the government mostly focuses on micro enterprises and to some extent small and medium enterprises,” he stated.The sector is facing issues in areas like finance, infrastructure, technology and market access, said Ramasamy. On the aspect of finance, he stated that the government has brought in many support schemes. “One such scheme is the Tamil Nadu Credit Guarantee Scheme or TNCGS. It is a sub-scheme of the Government of India Credit Guarantee Scheme. Collateral-free loans are not easily available to MSMEs. Normally, the Government of India Credit Guarantee gives only 75% guarantee. Now the Tamil Nadu government wants to increase this by another 15% for loans up to Rs 40 lakh. So for the credit guarantee, with government support, MSMEs can get up to 90% guarantee. And for the loan above 40 lakh, it is 80% guaranteed,” he explained.

Elaborating further on the state government’s vision for inclusive growth, he said empowering women has been central to their plans. “In all our schemes, we are trying to give participation to women. In the last three years, about 30,000 new entrepreneurs have benefited from the scheme of the state government, 40% of which are women,” he said.

Alluding to how the government has also been supporting small and medium enterprises to get additional funding for expansion of the SME exchange, Ramasamy said there is an exclusive provision for them in the case of an initial public offering. “So, any SME which intends to go for an IPO, we are supporting them through the National Stock Exchange and the government is providing a subsidy up to Rs 30 lakh for the cost incurred in the case of initial public offering of the SMEs,” he added.

Manufacturing prowess
Next up was an exciting panel discussion that saw some of the who’s who of the manufacturing ecosystem discuss ways to further strengthen Tamil Nadu’s manufacturing capabilities.

ET Online

The panel discussion featured some of the who’s who of the manufacturing ecosystem, discussing ways to further strengthen Tamil Nadu’s manufacturing capabilities.

Talking about global toy exports, KA Shabir, Vice President-International Division & Manufacturing, Funskool India Ltd, said that China has been the leader in this domain with exports of $48 billion. India, he said, has done approximately $152 million, which is around 0.3% of global exports. “So, there is a huge potential of moving this production from China to India,” he said.

The manufacturer also mentioned that the cost of capital in India is high at 10% against China’s 6% or 5%. “So we have a very big issue when it comes to investments into factories. The other issue is that China offers a lot of incentives for raw materials. Together, these aspects pose a big challenge for India,” he stated.

Aqueel Panaruna, President, India Shoe Federation, said that while ease of doing business has improved, a lot still remains to be done. “MSME industries focus on manufacturing. They have a skill set and they should not have to devote too much time on other areas of administration. So the government should come forward and give a hand to these companies because they need to focus more on manufacturing and bring in more exports. So it would be a great advantage if the government can assist on that front,” he said.

Talking about the importance of small clusters, Panaruna stated that a plug-and-play concept can work if the TN government can focus on a smaller area of, say, 10 acres to develop industrial clusters. “Incentives are not the answer to growth. Infrastructure is very important,” he stated.

The discussion then veered towards challenges related to global payments that MSMEs face. Srivatsan Sridhar, Founder and CEO of cross-border payments platform Skydo, said that businesses should be allowed to focus on what they do best, which typically entails running their businesses, improving product development, and focusing on finding customers.

“A long-term activity like collecting payments becomes a very serious headache when it becomes international. The good news is that companies are now coming forward to solve this aspect. Even banks are improving their levels of service. I think this is the beginning of the development of solutions as far as international payments are concerned, similar to how domestic payments have really improved over the last decade,” he said.

Taking his thought forward and talking more about how technology can streamline operations for MSMEs, Chandrasekaran Jayaraman, Founder Director, Watsan Envirotech Private Limited, said that one should be very conscious about the economical factors of running a company. “In machinery, for instance, if money is an issue, I would suggest going for outsourcing. A lot of companies say that they have different types of machines that are lying unused. Let us take the example of a hydraulic press, which is used by the rubber industry for a variety of purposes. These machines could be used to make bricks when the rubber industry isn’t using them. So we need to cross-analyse these types of machines and see how they can be best optimised,” he said.

Taking off
The final session of the day saw Srimathy Kesan, Co-founder and CEO, Space Kidz India, talk about how bright young minds need to be given exposure to the wonders of space. Kesan spoke about how a bunch of kids from her startup launched a satellite — KalamSAT — in 2017. “I had picked them when they were in Class VIII, IX and XI. Today they are doing PhDs. Together we stayed on to do 26 space missions,” she said.

ET Online

The final session of the day saw Srimathy Kesan, Co-founder and CEO, Space Kidz India, talk about how bright young minds need to be given exposure to the wonders of space.

Discussing how gulab jamuns gave the children an idea to launch a small-size satellite that could significantly reduce costs, Kesan stated that money was a big constraint for them. “If you have to send something to space, just the launch cost would be at least $60,000 to $1,00,000. So that is where we said that if we are able to make a satellite as small as a gulab jamun, we would overcome this hurdle. My kitchen became my lab and it led to the first-ever 3D printed satellite. It came out super successful,” she said to rapturous applause from the audience.

Talking about how it is important for people to sit up and take notice of space pioneers from India, Kesan said it is imprinted in our soul that NASA does the best job. “What ISRO does is not expressed or publicised. We don’t bring it out or share the pride. It is important that we have to celebrate all these people (at ISRO). People think rocket and satellite launches are just about putting some propulsion system on an object and it will take off. But the calculations are crazy. Until and unless we celebrate these people, nothing is going to improve,” she said, candid in her admission.

Kesan’s chat on space and reaching for the stars concluded the stellar Chennai session, culminating in a standing ovation from the audience.

ET Online

A host of women entrepreneurs attended the ET Make in India SME summit in Chennai, reflecting the state’s strength in this category.

The ET Make in India SME Regional Summit in Chennai was organised in partnership with Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd (ECGC). Similar events are being lined up in other cities, too, to highlight the industrial strength and MSMEs’ growth potential in various parts of the country.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}