FICCI-Confederation of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Launched

NEW DELHI, Dec. 20 -- The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry issued the following news release:

Mr. Amarendra Sinha, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner (MSME), today launched the FICCI-Confederation of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (CMSME), an umbrella organization to promote the growth of the MSME sector which contributes significantly to GDP, exports and employment.

The focus areas of FICCI-CMSME include policy consultations with government, legal & taxation, finance, marketing & quality standards, procurement, environment, technology & innovation, and start-up & entrepreneurship. These will help in addressing MSME issues comprehensively and take forward the mission to accelerate FICCI-CMSME growth and diversification.

Launching the website and brochure of FICCI-CMSME, Mr. Sinha said that MSMEs are the engines of growth and urged FICCI to pursue policy advocacy with the government. He suggested that schemes can be initiated to incentivize the growth of MSMEs and an ecosystem needs to be created, which celebrates the success of an MSME instead of expressing doubts about its achievements.

There are also definitional issues with the way MSMEs are described. For instance, a company with the turnover of Rs. 5 crore is identified as a medium enterprise in India but compared with the standards overseas, the scale is still small, he added.

Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI, said that FICCI has undertaken deep research over the years to understand issues that have constrained the MSME sector. Across MSMEs, many firms do not have the requisite organizational capacity to meet the challenges of marketing or technological up-gradation. For CMSME therefore the mission is to develop MSME capabilities to meet the challenge of establishing themselves in the global value chain and to accelerate the ICT culture so that they become equipped with faster technology and gain a competitive edge in world markets.

"The Government has devised special schemes for the sector, yet one of the most common issues faced by MSME sector is non-availability of adequate and timely credit at cost effective rates. High input costs along with varied rules and regulations across states further create obstacles to their operations. Our dedicated body, 'FICCI-CMSME' will address these issues and work closely with the Government to enhance the uptake of schemes both at the Centre and states, she stated.

Ms. Kidwai added, "CMSME will work towards strengthening policy consultations with the Government and address plethora of concerns from taxation, marketing to quality standards to procurement, as well as assist MSME sector to adhere to environment norms and other compliances."

Mr. Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, FICCI MSME Committee and Managing Director, Hindustan Tin Works Limited, said that the FICCI- Confederation of MSMEs (CMSME) is our dedicated and proactive effort to provide a one stop organization to work closely with the MSME sector. Through CMSME, we are inviting MSMEs across the country to join this umbrella organization and avail of the various opportunities. CMSME's role will be similar to that of FICCI but will be dedicated to the growth of the MSME sector. In the coming days, we will continue to play an active role in generating holistic grid to connect MSMEs with mentors, incubators and accelerators and assist MSME's through capacity building programs and services.

He said, "In order to empower member MSMEs, we have tied-up with several partners who would be supporting us towards our ambition of 'Empowering MSMEs'."

The following services mentioned below that are available for FICCI member MSMEs as on today.

- FICCI-CMSME members can access the services of Credit Facilitation Centre at FICCI where in SIDBI's knowledge partner would be providing free credit advisory and ensuring faster availability of credit and finance at low cost

- It will assist member MSMEs for improved quality and standards through expert training programmes and provide Intellectual Property (IP) services at affordable rates

- FICCI-CMSME will allow members to take advantage of technology that re-defines procurement for them. Members will be able to buy raw materials, to start with few products at competitive price points and also give them the option to choose from a list of quality suppliers, through an online technology. This is an attempt to decrease the raw material cost procured by member MSMEs. Mr. Narayan, Vice-President CMSME who is also the CEO of Power2SME will be helping in this regard

- All CMSME members will be facilitated with tech support services worth Rs. 20,000 absolutely free across a wide range of computing and communication devices and software through iYogi

- In marketing front the protection of online reputation and use of a .com (dot com) domain assumes special significance to increase brand value and revenue/leads. Hence, CMSME through VeriSign will help create effective brand and facilitate CMSME members to establish their own identity via a .com (dot com) website at very minimal cost

- The survival of small and medium entrepreneurs considerably depends on adoption of sound advertising techniques other than marketing. To start with, member MSMEs will get an approx 7% cash back on their monthly ad-spend in digital space like Google and/or Facebook through our partner Sokrati

- Insurance is an extremely important component of the MSMEs' business. Currently, MSMEs do not get quality insurance advice because they are small and find it hard to speak to knowledgeable subject matter experts. FICCI-CMSME through Secure Now will address this issue by providing members with cost-effective and useful MSME Insurance services.

While delivering the vote of thanks, Mr. R Narayan, Co-Chairman, FICCI MSME Committee and Founder & CEO, Power2 SME, said, "The launch of FICCI-CMSME initiative is an attempt to provide MSMEs with refreshingly new solutions to not all but several issues they face in their day to day operations. It is my hope that MSMEs will utilize this platform to not only engage, debate and work out solutions to some of these key challenges but also avail of the FICCI advantage in terms of utilizing networking platform to interact amongst members, institutions, state and central governments, large companies and industry leaders."

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