MUMBAI ROUND UP

India SME Forum concluded its penultimate event of its 23 city wide tour on 18th February'14 at Hotel Westin of Secrets of Success on SMEs centered on the objectives of Knowledge sharing and best practices ,Experts shared their views with three sessions back to back on Banking Branding & Marketing and Managing Growth & profitability ,a long-winded discussions tabled a clarity of vision for growth and the progressive approach that needs to be adopted by the emerging SMEs highlighting the need for SMEs to fill skills gaps for tackling constraints and achieve sustained success through innovative approach in Businesses .
The Forum was inaugurated by Mr J.S Juneja,Chairman,Global Projects & Services (P) Ltd,Mr. K.V. Srinivasan, CEO, Reliance Commercial Finance,Mr C.V Saraf ,Deputy Director ,MSME-DI, Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, Renowned Brand & Advertising Guru ,Mr. Vinod Kumar, Country Head SDRC & Honorary VP India SME Forum,Ms. Sushma Morthania, Director General, India SME Forum
Organised by India SME Forum along with Reliance Commercial Finance a division of Reliance Capital, Bharti Airtel, Bank of India, BSE SME,the forum empanelled industry experts and Mentors including Dr. J. S. Juneja, Chairman, Global Projects & Services (P) Ltd.,Ex Chairman, NSIC & Member Advisory Board, India SME Forum Mr. K.V. Srinivasan, CEO, Reliance Commercial Finance,Mr. Parag Patki, CEO, SMERA Ratings Ltd.Mr. Vasant G. Kamathh, General Manager, National Banking (W), Bank Of India,Mr. Nirmesh Prakash, Partner, Ambit Pragma Advisors LLP,Mr. Ajay Thakur, Head BSE SME,Mr. Saif Qureshi, CEO & MD, KRYFS Power Components Ltd .
Experts from Technology companies highly recommended SMES to adopt technology to catalyze their growth. Considering the potential of the sector many stakeholders including the Government of India, technology companies and SMEs recognize that roadblocks relating to infrastructure, technology and skilled labour must be eliminated to sustain the growth of SMEs and ensure their continued contribution to India's industrial production, economic growth and employment.
Ms. Devina Menon, Markets Anchor at NDTV Profit moderated the first session on banking & finance that was empaneled by Dr. J. S. Juneja, Chairman, Global Projects & Services (P) Ltd. & Member Advisory Board, India SME Forum ,Mr. K.V. Srinivasan, CEO, Reliance Commercial Finance ,Mr. Parag Patki, CEO, SMERA Ratings Ltd. Mr. Vasant G. Kamathh, General Manager, National Banking (W), Bank of IndiaMr. Nirmesh Prakash, Partner, Ambit Pragma Advisors LLP ,Mr. Ajay Thakur, Head BSE SME ,Mr. Saif Qureshi, CEO & MD, KRYFS Power Components Ltd.
The current scenario at this point enunciates that SMEs should increasingly adopt technologies like Cloud that are not just more affordable but are faster in terms of deployment. It can give them a head start against their competitors and help in improving employee mobility, scalability and agility.
Mr Vasant Kamath quoted that Projects should have clear vision and mission, He thrusts that Cash flow is more important than creating profits and that funds .
Mr Sashi Ravulpaty,Chief technology officer, Reliance Commercial Finance said part of the company's plan for technology developments in India is to provide bundle services solutions that would help the growth of micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the country. According to him, proper development of SMEs would lead to the growth of spin - off Industries,thereby creating employment and increasing the country's GDP growth.
Mr Dushyant Singh Rathore, Partner Channel Leed, Microsoft India stated "SMEs are the bedrock of any good startup eco-system. It's brilliant that we can partner with India SME Forum to help bring more businesses into the digital world. It's a move that will enhance their businesses and widen Indian economy."We have closely been working with these businesses and continues to provide them with the best possible solutions for a great future ahead.
In particular, the panelists of the Branding & Marketing session emphasized on how SMEs can adopt Marketing and Branding to build brands instead of commodities ,use new Cloud services that can enable small businesses to make business process changes and innovations to significantly grow their businesses.
Mr Prahlad Kakkar, Ad Guru quoted " It is essential for an entrepreneur to have clarity of his vision for growth. While emphasizing on this point, Prahlad commented, "entrepreneurs must have to have a vision which is scalable in nature. He highlighted the relevance and role of social media for SMEs by saying, This is a smartest way to engage with the target community. The capability of social media is immense for SMEs. As they can target their potential markets according to the regional specifications. Social media has become a platform for personalized engagement with SMEs. Branding can contribute in this area significantly.
Mr Vinod Kumar ,Partner Business & Development summarized the forum and mentioned " We believe the coming years will bring many promising opportunities for the SMBs in India. India has one of the largest population of small and medium businesses (SMBs). This cluster of business/economy contributes more than 60 percent to the Indian GDP, are large employers and their contribution towards the GDP is only expected to keep growing. He further stated that going forward India SME Forum will provide a service platform and interface to SMEs with -specific content for local SMEs to learn, collaborate and share their business experiences.
Participants eluded that The Secrets of Success was truly a knowledge sharing forum and thrilled that they could convey their objectives and get information on most specific issues that are creating hindrances in the progress of SMEs
The forum was attended by around 168 entrepreneurs of Mumbai