SME Chamber of India in association with India International Trade Centre (IITC-India) organised the above conference and brought the SMEs, Bankers and Financial Institutions, Regulating Authorities and the Government Officials on a common platform to address all the problems faced by SMEs with regard to the financial matters and to find necessary solutions.

It is the right time to review the support the SME sector requires as these units are capable of making maximum contribution towards achieving the target of 9% plus growth said the Chief Guest Dr. C. Rangarajan Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Hon’ble Prime Minister in his inaugural address at 6th International Conference on “SME Financing, Better Banking Regulations and Integration of SMEs” organised by Small and Medium Business Development Chamber of India (SME Chamber of India) in association with India International Trade Centre (IITC-India).

He also expressed his view that the Government has already recognised this fact and have been providing various types of support for the development of SME Sector as they play a catalytic role in the development of the country. They are the growth engines in developing and transition economies. In India they account for a significant proportion of manufacturing, exports and employment and are major contributors to GDP. This position gets reflected in their increasing number and rising proportion in the overall product manufacturing and exports, employment, technical innovations and entrepreneurial skills.

Micro and small enterprises provide employment to almost 41 million people in our country. Including the handloom and handicraft sector, the total employment provided by them is over 60 million. Hence, from the point of view of our people’s livelihood and well being this sector is of tremendous importance. The fact that SMEs are widely dispersed across the entire country also makes them highly important from a regional developmental perspective and as a means to promote balanced and inclusive growth all over the country.

In other countries like Italy, China, US and other European countries, Government extends assistance and proper guidance to SME Sector for its sustained growth. In India also it is very essential that we provide the necessary support to SMEs. The Ministry of MSME is engaged in the process.

The Chairman of The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Mr. C.B. Bhave said in his keynote speech that the consultation process for setting up a Small and Medium Enterprises Exchange (SME Exchange) is on and is likely to be completed shortly. They are in consultation with different segments of markets including organisations like SME Chamber of India in this regard. The main concern of the SEBI is to safeguard the interest of the small investors and see that the public money mobilised is put into proper use for the growth oriented and profitable enterprises and to deter the fly by night companies.

Mr. Dinesh Rai, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Government of India has assured the Ministry’s full support towards exports, skill upgradation, availability of finance and marketing assistance to the SME Sector.

Mr. G.N. Bajpai, Member, Advisory Board, Financial Technologies Group and Mr. Rajinder Singh, Chairman & CEO, Global Absolute Group have showed their willingness to extend the venture capital and private equity-funding tailor made for the SME Sector. Many participants had one-to-one interaction with around 20 fund managers came from Singapore, Hong Kong and UK.

A 5 member parliamentary delegation from Republic of Namibia has specially attended the Conference to understand about the functioning of Indian SMEs and to adopt the success story of Indian Economy in their country.

“SME Business Club” a networking platform conceptualised by Mr. Chandrakant Salunkhe, the founder President of the SME Chamber of India and IITC-India, for the SMEs to come together with a view to enhance their contact and tackle common problems was inaugurated at the hands of the Chief Guest and other guests of honour.

Successful entrepreneurs were recognised and conferred with SME and Entrepreneurship Excellence Awards.

The Conference also included three Sessions in which Risk Management in SME Financing, obtaining Finance through venture capital and private equity and the role of banks and financial institutions for the empowerment of SME Sector were deliberated in detail.

The Conference was attended by around 700 participants and culminated with networking amongst the SMEs and other stakeholders.