[India MSME Summit 2021] Empowerment, ecommerce, excellence – 40 quotes on the key role and transformation of the MSME sector

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special compilation of quotes focuses on the key roles, pandemic challenges, policy interventions, and digital transformation of Indian MSMEs. See also YourStory’s coverage of the India MSME Summit 2021 here.

The MSME segment is the backbone of the Indian economy, and for us to be a $5 trillion economy by 2025, ensuring the growth of this sector is paramount. - Kshitij Puri, ZipLoan

MSMEs are the bedrock of the Indian economy. - Akash Ambani, Jio

The MSME sector is the backbone of the Indian economy. It accounts for 30 per cent of the economy and has created 11 crore jobs so far. - Nitin Gadkari, Union MSME Minister

With just one in five MSMEs being run by women, India is losing out on the globally proven superiority of women-led business. - Akshay Soni, The/Nudge Accelerator

We believe that we have an immense opportunity in enabling our MSMEs sector to grow a lot more, and to create a larger pipeline of healthy enterprises that create many jobs. - Mekin Maheshwari, GAME

MSMEs galvanise India’s economy with income generation and job creation, and there is an ever-increasing demand for financing for businesses to rebuild and grow this year. - Hardika Shah, Kinara Capital

There is a strong business case for MSMEs to install rooftop solar, and achieve significant savings to achieve the cost-competitiveness. - Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

MSMEs, the backbone of India’s economy, faced severe disruptions, and the pandemic became a call to accelerate reform and growth for them. - Rajneesh Kumar, Flipkart Group

As we saw during the first wave as well, the larger companies were able to come out of it much faster. We are seeing that MSMEs are facing the brunt of issues now. - Vineet Agarwal, ASSOCHAM

The MSME sector, a critical backbone of India’s economy, has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. - Junaid Ahmad, World Bank

The second wave and related lockdowns and curfews and their impact on the economy have once again brought along very high levels of uncertainty, struggles and challenges for MSMEs and startups. - LocalCircles survey

Economic activity across India has been deeply affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, and it is now when our MSME’s and freelancer community require solutions to kickstart business activity. - Anupam Pahuja, PayPal

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India MSME Summit 2021: Decoding roadmap for MSMEs’ recovery

The economy is currently in a rebuild mode, and hence, sectoral incentives play a pivotal role as they allow MSMEs to recover. - Alok Mittal, Indifi Technologies

The repetition of workers migration and availability of working capital coupled with dismal demand are the pressing challenges for the MSME sector amid the second wave of COVID-19. - Vikas Gupta, Greyweave.com

Most SMEs are less efficient than large firms in screening the regulatory environment and dealing with norms. - Nagaraj Krishnan, Aparajitha Corporate Services

While large industries often have access to government departments and senior policy makers, it is the MSMEs that actually have limited access. - Vini Mahajan, Chief Secretary, Govt of Punjab

Only 0.5 percent of micro-businesses can scale up and graduate to the next level in India, while the comparative figures for China and the USA are at 25 percent and 45 percent, respectively. - Amit Kumar, MSMEx

When businesses have shut again amidst the second wave and with the threat of a looming COVID-19 third wave, the capacity hasn’t built up. So, how will [MSMEs] pay these loans back? - Mukesh Mohan Gupta, Chamber of Indian MSMEs

There is little focus on MSMEs that are financially crippled and need immediate financial relief. - Akash Gehani, Instamojo

Delayed collection is a major challenge that Indian SMEs face and capital stuck in receivables is a leading cause for financial stress. - Kunal Aggarwal, CredFlow

Invoice financing facilities offered by fintechs, with wide access due to their technological interfaces and corporate partnerships, will be a boon for the MSME sector as it gears in contributing to the growth of the economy. - Manish Lunia, Flexiloans

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[India MSME Summit 2021] Lessons from the cloud: how MSMEs can transition to digital-first businesses

MSMEs face a frequent need for urgent credit, catering to which becomes a challenge causing drastic cash flow disruptions. - Shachindra Nath, U GRO Capital

MSMEs don’t need lengthy instalment plans, they need access to small loans/credit lines they can pay back at variable time periods, based on their resale of the items they buy. - Anubhav Jain, Rupifi

The vast majority of the next half billion (NHB) consumers and MSMEs still lack access to basic insurance coverages. - Treasa Mathew, ONI

The SME segment remains underserved by the private equity industry. - Mukul Gulati, Zephyr Peacock

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digitisation within financial services. Getting affordable finance into the SME segment at scale is going to be critical to our global economic recovery. - Nadia Sood, CreditEnable

Like MSMEs, India’s $854 billion retail industry was also badly affected last year. Therefore, retailers will benefit from working in tandem with MSMEs. - Akash Anand, DEERIKA

There are a lot of startups and SMEs even today especially in Tier 2 cities that resort to traditional office spaces, which are expensive and lack flexibility and scalability. - Kishore G Nair, Incoff

The 50 to 60 million SMEs in India, that form the backbone of the economy (about 30 percent of the GDP), lack resources. - Priyom Sarkar, Asanify

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[India MSME Summit 2021] The future is online selling: Why MSMEs need to leverage ecommerce

Ecommerce has played a transformational role for sellers and MSMEs in recent years, especially during the pandemic, by providing new avenues for their growth and expansion. - Ranjith Boyanapalli, Flipkart

COVID-19 is a challenge but technology is the future, and MSMEs need to adapt as much as possible. - Sumant Rampal, HDFC Bank

Over the last decade, India has gone through a sea change in the enormous number of MSMEs now selling their wares online. - Sundeep Mohindru, M1xchange

Indian SMEs are unique in their entrepreneurial spirit. We are witnessing a reinvention where many of them are getting transformed as digital business. - Amit Agarwal, Amazon India

MSMEs, in particular, have been hit hard by the pandemic, and the key to the long-term growth of the MSME sector (beyond national stimulus packages) is through digitisation and finding new ways to connect with customers and expand reach. - Mangesh Panditrao, Shoptimize India

While earlier MSMEs struggled with technological disruptions, the pandemic taught them the importance of digitisation and automation of business. - Archanna Das, ASCENT Foundation

In the current volatile environment, data sciences play a pivotal role. Processes which are based on strong data models, tend to make fewer mistakes. - Tushar Drolia, SMEcorner

Language is a prominent barrier that Indian MSMEs face when they seek to leverage ecommerce to expand their business. - Pranav Bhasin, Amazon

MSMEs haven’t had the privilege of having enablers and supporters who could assist them in a manner that they could only focus on their core business strength, rather than worrying about back-office functions. - Anand Jajodia, AlignBooks

SMEs are digitally connected in a few ways, but this is often not a seamless process as they use a combination of semi-automated and manual business processes. - Nabendu Das, Tally Solutions

MSME owners should understand their financial transactions and then integrate them with bank transactions to correlate them. - Prasanna Ramaswamy, Finaltics

The interplay of digital technology and policy reforms have paved an exciting way ahead for Indian MSMEs. - Nikhil Arora, GoDaddy India

The emergence of online marketplaces was nothing less than a catalyst for growth and achieving momentum. MSMEs and ecommerce have been acting as the wheels of a chariot. - Raghunandan Saraf, Saraf Furniture

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).