'Urgent need to make ICT solutions affordable for MSMEs'

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Namrata Kath Hazarika | 04 Aug, 2012
To survive growing competition, Indian micro, small and medium enterprises must adopt information and communication technologies, and there is an urgent need to make these solutions affordable for them, said a senior official from the Ministry of MSMEs, on Friday, in New Delhi.

"If the sector has to survive and find a place of its own, it is must be competitive both nationally and globally. And, if it wants really to be competitive in the global world today, one important tool is Information Technology," MSME ministry Joint Secretary, C K Mishra said at a PHD Chamber conference on "Affordable ICT solutions for SMEs".

Indian MSMEs can become competitive in the global market by using affordable ICT solutions, he added.

The official pointed out that problem of affordability is hindering adoption of ICT among MSMEs.

"Therefore, the issue has to be debated both in the private and public domain," he said.

"If you look at the entire economic scenario the new driver of growth can and perhaps only be MSMEs," Mishra added.

He mentioned that the government has to make efforts to provide the sector with what it needs to grow. "We need to provide the teeth it needs to compete with rest of the world because this is the sector which has high growth, high employment, high manufacturing level, and the sector has emerged as the most potential driver," he further added.

"And, as we are not able to put a more cohesive act together the sector is facing difficulty and that is what we need to work on," Mishra said.

Also, he said, "ICT has become very vital because by its very nature MSMEs are supposed to be creative and innovative. If innovation is the key to growth, ICT has to become the platform to grow."

"Time has come to take a leap forward. We need to become globally competitive. We need to reduce costs and improve productivity. Unless we are able to use modern tools that are available to us to increase our age and competitiveness, we will not be able to survive," Mishra added.