Nobody knows in which direction the camel of election will sit today, but SMEs with the light of hope in their eyes are looking for support from the new government.

With the general elections 2009 for the 15th Lok Sabha over and the EVMs  will decide the fate of the political parties later today, everyone in industry have their own demands. And even Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are asking for some relief to sustain their business during this worst phase of global economic slowdown.

SME contributes more than 40 percent to industrial output. The current contribution of SMEs to India's GDP is 17 percent. SMEs are the second largest employment generator after agriculture, which is around 30 million. On an average SMEs are creating one million jobs annually. It has been estimated that there exist about 350 SME clusters in India.

"I don't know...who will form the new government, but I must say that the new government is required to understand the problems of small businessmen, which are mainly the availability of liquidity at reasonable interest rates," Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, Habib Hussain told SMEs Times.

"Along with this the Indian SMEs are facing the problem of high input cost, which leads to increase the prices of final goods," Hussain added.

MSMEs, which comprises more than 13 million units in India, not only give employment to a large number of unskilled and semi-skilled people but also support bigger industries by supplying raw material, basic goods, finished parts and components etc.

"We want a stable government and a stable a government can only give a sustainable development to this sector. Our governments have lots of policies for SMEs, but the thing is the implementation of these policies," said Mohan Suresh, President Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME).

Apart from liquidity issues and stability, SMEs want the new government to focus on infrastructure, since that alone will result in employment generation. And when more and more people have jobs this will in return generate high demand in the domestic market, which is good for SMEs' health.

The small businesses are hit hard due to the slowdown in global demand. Considering the contribution of SMEs in the economic growth of the country, if they are expecting something from new government for their survival it is wholly justified.

Although all major parties had kept promises for the small businesses in their manifestos, who will fulfill these words will come only after the new government is formed.