Resolve key issues faced by MSMEs for faster industrial growth : Experts

OST Business Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Nov 25 :

The growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) is the a key catalyst for economic growth of the state, experts said in the sidelines of a seminar on ‘Vendor Connect’ organized by the Eastern Region chapter of the CII on the occasion of rg\the 5-day 19th edition of ‘Enterprise Odisha’ here on Monday.

Inaugurating the ‘Enterprise Odisha’ summit earlier on November 22, the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “Odisha apart from riding on the curve of an industrial revolution, also eyes to become a knowledge hub”. Many national and international knowledge-based institutions have evinced interest to invest in Odisha, the CM informed..

The Chief Minister also said the state government’s ‘Youth Policy’ aims to engage the youths of our state in various important segments of our society including the industrial sector, out of which MSME has a great role to play.

“Odisha can be an economic powerhouse in the Country through Innovation, Transformation and Effective Implementation, the main theme of the current edition of ‘Enterprise Odisha Conclave’”, he added.

Richard Kreig, Principal Commercial Officer, US Consulate said, “Indian companies need to be on par with their US counterparts as far as industrial equipments and technologies are concerned. Now US is in talks with Indian Chamber of Commerce to supply modern equipment to food processing industries as well as pollution control, water resource, mining sectors.”

“Banks especially PSU banks should be flexible on lending to provide better credit linkage for these micro, small and medium units,” said M K Gupta, Chairman CII Odisha & Managing Director, Gupta Power & Infrastructure Ltd.

“High cost of credit has led to these institutions becoming less cost-competitive and thereby the products manufactured by MSMEs become costlier,” Shri Gupta added.

According to official data, MSME sector contributes around 40% to the state’s export, 45% of manufacturing volume and consists of about 45% of industrial workforce employing 60 million people next to agriculture sector.

“Notwithstanding the MSME sector’s growth rate above 10% over the years, the sector has had to face large scale operational problems like inadequate market linkage, credit linkage etc,” said Manikant Nayak, Chief Resident Executive, Tata steel Ltd, adding, events like ‘Enterprise Odisha’ could provide a common platform for buyers and sellers to help MSMEs to perform better.

“The small and medium enterprises suffer from inadequate linkage from Financial Institutions (FIs) and also from Large Scale Industries, problems that need to be resolved,” Nayak said.

“Tata Steel’s 6MTPA steel plant which would provide ample opportunities for the downstream and ancillary industries to grow there,” he added.

“Marketing linkage is a key aspect for the sustenance of the MSMEs which can be divided in to two categories depending on the Customer needs and requirement from Large Scale Industries as well. More marketing tie-ups of these small-scale units with buyer organizations need to be in place,” said Nityananda Palai, Director, Directorate of Industries, Government of Odisha..

Luminaries from across corporates and banks offered their inputs to strengthen the MSME’s networking with funding agencies and with large industries in the state on this occasion.