Govt should look at ways to protect, nurture and promote SMEs: Anwar Shirpurwala

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Saurabh Gupta | 11 Dec, 2014
Many Indian entrepreneurs have ventured out successfully, entering into several mergers and acquisitions and technology transfers and establishing their global footprints, but our small and medium enterprise (SMEs) still lack adequate resources to harness their true potential and create utmost value from their competitiveness. Indian SMEs still face several challenges that hamper their growth and development, the Executive Director of MAIT, Anwar Shirpurwala said in an exclusive interview to SME Times.

"Many successful economies have extremely SME/ Entrepreneur friendly policies; growing economies too are empowering this sector to build much more resilient economies. The Indian government too should look at ways to protect, nurture and promote its IT hardware sector," he said.

"In order to support SMEs and give them the best opportunity to showcase their solutions to a wide audience MAIT has launched a dedicated portal for SMEs. The portal aims to create ample business opportunities within SMEs," he added.

MAIT facilitation cell would provide a platform to SMEs to express their problems, concerns and issues for its redressal in a time-bound manner; which could be escalated to the right authorities if required. The main aim of MAIT is to bring SMEs to the mainstream.

Excerpts of the interview...

Tell something more about your facilitation cell - MAIT SME.
Anwar Shirpurwala: The creation of SME chapter under MAIT is an initiative to bring SMEs from across the country onto a single platform and give them an opportunity to update their knowledge about various business opportunities, latest technologies, investment opportunities available in IT sector in India and abroad. For a better visibility of Indian ICT SMEs MAIT is also assisting them to showcase their capability, products, services, etc. to the larger companies. It will also boost startups by facilitating them with suitable collaborations with Indian as well as foreign partners.

In order to support SMEs and give them the best opportunity to showcase their solutions to a wide audience MAIT has launched a dedicated portal for SMEs http://www.maitsme.com/ . The portal aims to create ample B2B opportunities within SMEs.

This facilitation cell would provide a platform to SMEs to express their problems, concerns and issues for its redressal in a time-bound manner; which could be escalated to the right authorities if required. The main aim of MAIT is to bring SMEs to the mainstream.

Under this chapter MAIT is also conducting several ICT SME Conclave across India which is benefiting both SMEs as well the SME-centric Government Departments like DeitY, MSME Ministry and other like-minded organizations; as it gives an opportunity for SMEs to discuss their problems in an open forum and seek its solutions. In future MAIT SME Chapter would endeavour to touch the lives of scores of Small & Medium entrepreneurs by making them active partners & collaborators of the Indian IT Ecosystem.

What is the objective and mission of your association?
Anwar Shirpurwala: MAIT was formed in 1982, and over the past 32 years it has been working towards the growth of ICT industry in India and addressing the key concerns of the industry.

The underlying vision of the MAIT SME Chapter is to develop a collaborative and a mutually inclusive Indian IT Ecosystem; that would benefit all stakeholders and transform India into the next IT manufacturing hub.

How you see the role of India small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in ICT industry?
Anwar Shirpurwala: A robust SME is the backbone of any economy, a fact that has been well acknowledged and therefore nurtured across most developed economies.

The role of SMEs as the 'growth engines' of the national economy by enhancing the manufacturing value chain; ensuring balanced regional development through revenue contribution & employment opportunities and thus creating of a collaborative & mutually inclusive IT eco-system can never be ignored. Hence the role of the SMEs has received great importance in these competitive times; as India surges forward to becoming the âmanufacturing hubâ of the world.

You have organized several MAIT ICT SME Conclave across India. In your views what kinds of challenges have bubbled up for Indian SMEs over the last several years after liberalization of Indian economy?
Anwar Shirpurwala: We have seen that SMEs generally do not get direct information in terms of various policies and schemes. With the current competitive and challenging business environment where complexities of doing businesses have grown phenomenally, a dedicated effort is required from all stakeholders to empower these SMEs to achieve sustainable growth and become globally competitive.

Some of the other issues that SMEs face in India are related to demand, sales and marketing which are factors that the other manufacturing focused countries have been managing well. They take the responsibility of making the manufacturing unit viable, even to the extent of sending experts to make sure the quality of products are up to mark and in line with international standards.

How your association can help them (SMEs) to overcome those challenges?
Anwar Shirpurwala: Through this SME chapter our endeavor is to reach out to all SMEs in the ICT sector and support them to widen their understanding on various schemes and initiatives on offer by the government that can work towards creating new business opportunities for the industry.

Also, MAIT would work closely with various Govt. Departments and agencies for understanding the concerns of SMEs and thus advocate policy and procedural level interventions to create a conducive atmosphere of business operation in the country.

What do you think that the government can do to encourage SME manufactures in India?
Anwar Shirpurwala: Many successful economies have extremely SME/ Entrepreneur friendly policies; growing economies too are empowering this sector to build much more resilient economies. The Indian government too should look at ways to protect, nurture and promote its IT hardware sector.

The recent slowdown in the Indian economy, coming as it does in the wake of a global slowdown, has affected the SMEs in ICT sector, which leads to high closer rate of small ICT companies. In your views what can be done to encourage start-up SMEs?
Anwar Shirpurwala: MAIT SME Chapter has been established with the objective of becoming the one-stop shop for rendering value-added services to startups & SMEs in the Electronics & ICT Hardware domain.

MAIT SME Chapter would shortly tie-up with leading funding agencies and Business incubation & allied organizations to encourage startups to actively set-up operations in design, manufacturing, assembly & packaging of Electronics & IT Hardware components & systems; with the view of create a collaborative and mutually inclusive Indian IT Eco-system, which would achieve high level on indigenization and end dependence on imports.

The center government is in the process of shaping Digital India initiative. Any suggestion from your side in the context to ICT SMEs.
Anwar Shirpurwala: The direction of the new Government is extremely encouraging, especially its focus on the manufacturing sector. However, what is needed and largely lacking is clarity of policy and a road map for implementation. The industry, especially SMEs, need sufficient clarity and long-term view for them to commit on capital expenditure. Whatever initiatives that have been announced recently were encouraging including the correction of inverted duty structure.

It has been noticed that there is huge gap in between the demand and supply of ICT hardware like telecom equipment, semiconductor chips, nano electronics, biometric identity devices, etc. How you see ICT opportunities for Indian SMEs?
Anwar Shirpurwala: While India has the fastest growing Hardware market, the absolute size of the market is still small when compared to leading countries such as China and Japan in Asia Pacific. MAIT â KPMG 2013 report found that India, as a market has PC penetration of 10% as compared to more than 45% in countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and 35% of China. It also predicts that if CAGR of sales of computing devices increases from 6% to 18%, it is estimated to generate additional sales of 26 million units which is expected to generate additional GDP contribution of INR 66,300 crore, taxes of INR 25,000 crore and employment for 1,11600 people.

IT opportunities are not restricted to Notebooks, Tablet PC, and Printer etc. There are many more products that get imported. In fact the irony of the situation is that most of the software for those products is developed in India. There is no reason that we cannot manufacture hardware also here and create world class products and appliances that can be exported in addition to fulfilling the local consumption. In addition to full products, there are many opportunities for hi-tech sub-assemblies as well.

How any SME can take your membership? And what are the advantages of your membership?
Anwar Shirpurwala: Any SME unit operating in the Electronics & ICT Hardware and Services domain is eligible to obtain membership of the MAIT SME Chapter. SMEs can connect with MAIT at contact@mait.com and they will be guided on the process of taking membership.

Members registering prior to 1st April 2015 would not incur any admission charges.

Advantages of MAIT SME Chapter membership:-

1.    Opportunity for recognition & growth as an Indian Manufacturer â the MAIT SME Chapter will work towards bringing in technologies, IPs and manufacturing to the country together with Indian partners and Government Agencies.
2.    Opportunity to obtain smooth and hassle free funding from various funding agencies for ICT SMEs as well as technology startups; through MAITâs expertise in this domain
3.    Obtain Certificate of Membership to the MAIT SME Chapter.
4.    Opportunity to attend and involve in various activities for networking, business contact building, exchange of business information, knowledge sharing, present issues and problem, suggestions and recommendations â MAIT SME Portal (www.maitsme.com) shall bring together SMEs from across India on one platform and link them to large buyers & government agencies
5.    Opportunity for better visibility and showcase of your capability, products, services, new business activities etc. to the larger companies and government agencies - Dedicated webpage on the MAIT SME portal for each member
6.    Opportunity to grow through business collaborations - MAIT SME Chapter would facilitate product collaborations with Indian & overseas partners
7.    Opportunity to join as a delegation members to visit various countries for business promotion and building connectivity.
8.    Opportunity to put your issues & concerns on a state / national forum â MAIT SME Chapter shall work closely with various Govt. Departments & Agencies and advocate policy & procedural level interventions to create a conducive atmosphere of business operation for SMEs in the country.
9.    Opportunity to obtain relevant Recommendation letters from a National body to Government Agencies, Banks, Embassies, Consulates, Corporates and other concerned authorities. In case of overseas travel, recommendation letter for business visas could be obtained.
10.    Opportunity to appear as the speaker or panelist at various Conferences, Training Programs and Seminars conducted by MAIT to share knowledge and experience as per your expertise, interest and theme of the activity.
11.    Opportunity to share articles in MAIT publications and to place advertisement at concessional rates