Small Scale Enterprises : Small is Big

Make In India pushes all of us to think big, think about innovative ways to make hubs for manufacturing not just for our own domestic demand but also to increase the exports

Micro and Small enterprises play a vital role in the socio-
economic development of the country. Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Sector provides maximum opportunities for self employment. The contribution of Indian MSMEs in building an inclusive and sustainable society in innumerable ways through creation of non-farm
livelihood at low cost, balanced regional development, gender & social balance and environmentally sustainable
development, is laudable.
Source of Vitality
MSME sector is the source of vitality with their agility, dynamism, requirement of low capital, technology requirement, promotion of industries in rural areas, use of traditional and inherited skills, use of local resources and exportability of products. According to the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, there are 46 million units generating 100 million jobs .
Government of India under the present leadership wants to increase the share of manufacturing sector in country’s GDP to 25 per cent by the year 2022. Make in India, Start-Ups, Stand Up India and Credit Guarantee Trust Fund Scheme are some of the schemes of the Government to achieve this goal.  Under the Credit Guarantee Trust Fund Scheme (CGTMSE) Small and medium Enterprises can take a loan of   Rs 200 lakh  without collateral security. The scheme also provides capital subsidy to  Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on investments in new machines and technology up-gradation.
MSMEs are currently  manufacturing around 6,000 items. Both traditional & high-tech Indian SMEs are adapting to technologies available and entering to very high tech areas like space and defence sectors. They have also
contributed to the  ISRO projects—Mangalayaan and Chandrayaan.
Due to Make in India initiative and the vitality of MSME sector, to adapt to new business/technological environment, the hitherto no-entry areas of SMEs in technology industries has opened up with Government
policies also favouring the same so that, the need for imports and dependency on foreign multinationals for our critical requirements will drastically come down.
The Make in India strategy adopted by Government of India aims to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development and build infrastructure ecosystems for the manufacturing infrastructure in the country.
Global Recognition
Many global companies are increasingly looking to Indian MSMEs for strategic partnership of mutual benefit, due to innovative capabilities in niche manufacturing, competitive advantages of advanced engineering, low cost manufacturing, using locally available skills and capabilities. All these  set apart Indian MSME from their peers of other countries. The Indian SMEs are playing a major role in the automotive/auto mobile sector and also auto components. The sector has seen 17 per cent rise in business  and exports have touched USD 9 billion as on 31.3.17
Technology: Growth Driver for Make In India:
If we look at the key India statistics regarding use of internet and mobile, we will know where we are heading to:
l    40 crore internet users and over 30 crore mobile internet users.
l    Video viewing on YouTube is up 400% in view time YoY
l    Voice accounts for 28% of all Search Queries
l    Hindi Searches growing 400% YoY
l    Indians download 1B Apps per month
l    Data usage 7x in 15 months
Think Big
Make In India pushes all of us to think big, think about innovative ways to become hub for manufacturing not just for our own domestic demand but also to increase the export. We have to make use of this opportunity, deploy
latest technologies to improve the
efficiency in the process, remove unnecessary delays, work and move on more skill-oriented work. Skills are not just related to new technology but also use our traditional domain skills in various sectors, use technology to fit them in the current need and in the process enhance opportunity for everyone. Technology is a long-term driver of growth. The effect of this growth is not limited to companies as it includes other stakeholders. Society as a whole is expected to see
disruptive changes such as increased local manufacturing, increase in entrepreneurship around niche products and technology services, a shorter cycle time, reduced inventory, on-demand production, and a product as a service model. Technology as a growth engine can empower Indian companies to participate in the next industrial
revolution and bring them on the same footing as companies in more industrialised nations, so that they remain competitive in the new era of manufacturing.
We can’t afford to fear the
technology and not adopt it, it’ll
definitely have some disruption in
existing way of doing things but we have to upgrade our skills to offer many more things in Make In India dream and potentially generate more revenue/jobs.
If we want to increase our business we will not only have to improve our quality but also improvise ourselves by using new visualisation technologies like virtual reality.
Similarly, rapid prototyping is becoming mainstream now using the technology in 3D printing space. It was never considered for serious mainstream production other than prototyping earlier. Today, with the falling cost of 3D printers and advancement in 3D printing technologies, this is set to become one of the leading technologies used by manufacturing companies in the future.
Internet of Things [IoT] or Industrial Internet of Things [IIoT]) enables
companies to bridge the gap between physical and digital world. It can extract data from machines or from machine
to machine and thus create a fully
connected enterprise. This was not possible before since there was a barrier between the digital and physical world. Going forward, companies will be able to monitor the health of their machines, track their supply chain, monitor the entire production process, track employee productivity and collect feedback on their products even after sales. These technologies will provide companies of the future with insights into every detail, allowing for better management, continuous improvement, cost optimisation and a move towards perfection.
Advanced robotics has the ability to work in more unstructured and flexible settings and take decentralised
decisions. Robots are also being used alongside the human workforce to
create a hybrid workforce, which can offer greater productivity.

Agricultural Sector
As the technology is deeply penetrating in all the facets of life, the role of Small and Medium Enterprises  in agriculture sector is very  important. As our farmers are moving from traditional methods of farming to more mechanised methods of farming – like using modern methods of irrigation, using farm equipments for tilling and ploughing the fields—SMEs  is playing a very crucial role. This includes the soil testing methods, determining what crops to be grown, predicting weather/climate patterns, etc.,
The industry especially, SMEs are investing heavily in manufacturing of agriculture equipment/implements and other ancillary services like building cold storage, providing logistical support and direct marketing tools.
Rural Entrepreneurship
SMEs are focussing on the
development of handicrafts, cottage industries apart from manufacturing sectors across respective states. This is also helping in improving the overall economic health of the state as against only concentrating on urban areas. This kind of development will help in providing job opportunities to the youths of rural and semi-rural background apart from their regular agricultural activities.
— Laghu Udyog Bharati, Karnataka