KOLKATA ROUND UP

The seventh SME Forum organised by Reliance Capital Finance along with FOSMI, took place in Grand Oberoi Hotel, in the presence of more than 150 SMEs from Kolkatta on 22nd September 2012.
Mr. Biswanath Bhattacharya, President at FOSMI (Federation of Small & Medium Industries) from West Bengal welcomed the SMEs and emphasised the importance of this sector for the growth of the Indian economy as it not only generates employment but also helps in creating competitiveness. Mr. Bhattacharya was joined by Mr. S K Basu , Director at MSMSE DI in Kolkatta who talked about the initiatives taken by MSME and activities like development of national skill, manufacturing & cluster development.
Mr. Vinod Kumar, Partner SDRC thanked all the SMEs present for joining the SME movement and bringing all the SMEs under a common platform, so that together they can find and implement solutionsfor taking Indian SMEs to the next level.
The first panel discussion started with Mr. Nikhil Nehru, Chairman Results International Group, Advertising & Communications Guru giving a brief presentation about the requirement of branding which is based on burning desire and strong belief. Then he elaborated on the importance of customer service and a combination of great product with great customer service which can help SMEs gain lifelong loyalty with their customers. Even for brands which one recommends to friends, good customer service is required so it is important to treat your customers well especially for B2Bs. Also good branding requires innovative tactics and new ways of promoting a brand as well.
Mr. Deepak Pande, Executive Vice president & Head at SME Business at Vodafone Business Services gave a presentation on how utilisation of IT can enable SMEs to come at par with corporates in terms of pricing and marketing - shared services, using top consultants, technology obsolescence, people dependency and best use of technology. Mr. Shashi Ravulapaty, Sr VP & CTO at Reliance Commercial Finance talked about cloud computing and various solutions that can be used by SMEs cost effectively.
The second session consisted of Mr. Souvik Sengupta, Business Head for SME Loans at Reliance Capital; Mr. Parag Patki, CEO at SME Rating Agency of India; Mr. Prashant Kumar Jha , Regional Head at BSE; Mr. Manish Bhatt, Vice President & Head for IPO & Primary Markets at Prabhudas Lilladher where topics related to SME Funding were discussed.
Mr. Souvik Sengupta, Business Head for SME Loans at Reliance Capital spoke about strengthening of SMEs so that they sustain & grow and that 9.3% SMEs suffer from financial exclusion with mortality of 2.7% in first one year and 5.2 % in first 4 years. Mr. Parag Patki, CEO, SMERA explained as why should SMEs get rated and how it helps them get an unbiased opinion and credibility. Mr. Manish Bhatt, Vice President & Head for IPO & Primary Markets at Prabhudas Lilladher talked about how SMEs could get listed on the BSE & NSE, post their successful listing of Thejo Engineering .
Mr. Vinod Kumar, Country Head at SDRC India & Secretary for Jury Board at ISF who was the moderator also cited various examples of successful SMEs.
The sessions ended with distribution of gifts and prizes by in the form of air tickets Go Air and Espirit watches by Reliance Capital Finance via lucky drawn by select participants present.