The SMEs

For the past few days, I have been reading Market Research related articles, of all sorts, due to my plans of going legal with my consulting venture. Most articles I read, talk about harnessing technology, how the market as been changing from late 80s, to early 90s, to mid-90's and so on till date. They talk about consumption pattern, socio-economic trends, advent of globalization and its after effects, projections of where we could be at a certain point in time from now etc etc. What I have failed to read , is about the emerging India, the Rural India,which I call the New India whose crux is the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector. Apart from a report of a certain government agency, I have not found an exhaustive writ on market research in this sector. I wonder, if we are waiting for 'Christmas' to arrive and tell us about the opportunity in our rural markets. They may have already done so. And why would we be overlooking that?
'It is estimated that SMEs account for almost 90% of industrial units in India and 40% of value addition in the manufacturing sector. They contribute 35% to India’s merchandise exports.' - is what D&B India says.

Even after enactment of the new Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, we are yet to see some strong mobilization of efforts in this sector. We are encouraging foreign investments, says Mr. R.Dubey of D&B,but what we lack, as I see it is a structured system to channelize our efforts at boosting the SME sector. And for a sector that contributes to almost half the value addition in manufacturing sector, it is time it structures itself.

Speaking of a structure, SMEs more or less do business on their 'hunch'. Imagine the increase in productivity at every platform, were we to study our industry at process levels and accordingly strategise our business. When it comes to understanding the business at large, the sector is no doubt full of people with ace business acumen. Nevertheless, there has to be a way to educate the SME sector on the policies and opportunities of support that government is willing to offer, and this must be done at the grass root level.

Strategic Business Acumen has always been important for any businessman, but not as it is in our times. Every product and every service, however innovative, has a strong rival within month of being in the market. Be it pricing, value offered or presence, competition stares back at you in the face in no time. With cut throat competition at a global level and the rapid globalization spree, it is only if we get to the Why that we can understand the What and capitalize it.

Today's India, for me, is golden. Brimming with opportunities, fresh minds and encouragement that no one has seen before. We have greater number of entrepreneurs than we ever had, countless resources at our disposal - the kind of which were unthinkable about a couple of decades ago and a large young population.

Going back to where I started, I am still waiting for a market report that tells us what and why's of the SME sector in detail.
Nonetheless, something reminds me of 'Jahan daal daal par sone ki chidiya karti hai basera...'