Since 2017, June 27 is noticed as Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day or MSME Day. The world observes MSME Day in recognition of the significance of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in reaching improvement objectives, selling innovation and creativity and producing jobs globally. The MSME Day 2021 is being noticed amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent lockdown in a number of international locations which have a far-reaching impression on small enterprise. Indian Banks Sanction over Rs 75,000-Crore Loans to MSMEs Below Credit score Assure Scheme.
On the occasion of World MSME Day on June 27, here are the views of the following:
Lalit Mehta, Co-founder & CEO of Decimal Technologies from a fintech startup perspective:
“A large part of India’s economy and over 30 per cent of the overall employment comes from the MSME sector. Historically, the MSME sector has faced major roadblocks and challenges when it comes to credit accessibility. In the current situation, the need to make credit available to them is important to not only revive the sector but also to ensure business continuity. Digital lending solutions are leveraging new-age technologies like AI & ML to bridge the credit gap and establishing a strong backbone for the sector’s growth. Digitising the entire lending journey will help in creating customized solutions and products to address the financial needs of MSMEs and help leverage the large spectrum of data from surrogate sources for speedy credit assessment. This will help reduce the need of physical documentation for verification purposes, which is often the reason for application dropouts among small businesses. Transforming the traditional lending process will enable banks and lenders to cater to a large number of small and medium businesses based on the ticket size and increase the speed of the lending process, thereby bringing the MSMEs into the formal credit channels and bridging the digital gap.”
Dilip Modi, Founder of Korero Platforms, from a CPaaS start-up perspective:
“India is home to close to 6.3 crore MSMEs, who form the backbone of the Indian economy and contribute heavily to the country’s GDP. During the pandemic, as larger businesses were rapidly getting accustomed to the increasingly digital operations, MSMEs struggled with technological integrations and some, to even keep themselves afloat as the economy moved to digital platforms and offerings. Digitization has become a necessity for all businesses, more than before now, including MSMEs, as customers will continue to expect digital offerings.
I believe it is crucial for MSMEs to adopt services that will help them automate their customer and stakeholder communications. It is imperative for small and medium businesses to adopt intelligent omni-channel communication platforms to ensure business continuity. Communication platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) providers will enable MSMEs to provide prompt and relevant responses to their customers, fostering long-lasting relationships and leading to their overall growth. This is furthered when CPaaS is powered by new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence. MSMEs also often lack manpower, and customized digital stakeholder communication solutions will allow them to focus on the core activities of their business. Digitalization of stakeholder engagement will also expand the reach of MSMEs to more than just their localities, bringing in revenue from across the country. Technology can be a great equalizer and can bring MSMEs, mostly operating in semi-urban and rural areas, at par with the big businesses, resulting in sustainable inclusive growth.”
Narayan ‘Naru’ Ramamoorthy, Chief Revenue Officer, Global PayEX:
“The pandemic brought to light two major issues facing the MSME sector today – delayed payments and lack of credit. Both these factors are hampering the availability of working capital and growth potential of the sector. While the RBI and NBFCs have been attempting to help MSMEs in several ways, cash flow based lending can help these enterprises overcome the challenges that are lacking in the traditional system. With more than 15,000 MSMEs on our platform, we have seen an increased interest from a large number of MSMEs to leverage tools, such as invoice financing that allow them to use an unpaid invoices as a collateral to increase credit flow.”
