With an aim to development of small businesses in the country, digitalization across areas like marketing and manufacturing would play a critical role, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Nitin Gadkari said. The Minister also emphasised the need for technologies that can help expand economically viable MSMEs in the rural and tribal areas across the country. He also pointed out that MSMEs account for 30 percent of India’s GDP, 48 percent of the exports and have created 11 crore jobs. The government aims to take this to 40 percent GDP contribution, 60 percent exports, and create 5 crore new jobs.
“Digitalisation in MSMEs is the most important subject…digitalisation is a solution by which we can make our system transparent and time-bound,” he said at an event held by Microsoft. In his address, Gadkari noted that marketing is an important arena for MSMEs and a number of small companies that have started marketing online are seeing excellent results. He added that digitalization can play an important role for the manufacturing sector in enhancing processes, he said, urging the tech sector to collaborate with MSMEs to help them in these processes. He said the most important agenda for the government is development of MSMEs in the rural, agricultural, tribal areas and 115 aspirational districts.
“This area is where GDP contribution is very negligible…So we need to find technology which is useful for making economically viable MSMEs in the village, rural, agricultural and tribal area,” he noted. He added that while these areas have raw materials, a digital system that is result-oriented can be brought in that will create a win-win situation for all.