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Sri Lankan Industry, Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons, Cooperative Development, Skills Development and Vocational Training Minister Rishad Bathiudeen meets India’s MSME Development Forum Founder Chairman Rajnish Goenka on 17 September in Colombo
One of the world’s most dynamic Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise MSME collectives has come forward to support Sri Lankan MSMEs to fulfil their long-cherished dream of going global.
The offer, made to Lankan SMEs for the first time in its history, also includes assistance to Lankan SMEs through the provision of marketing and tech know-how.
“Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to increase Indian MSMEs’ contribution to GDP in a big way. If we support Lankan SMEs, the Lankan sector in turn will supply us and support us too. But we are not talking of support to Sri Lankan SMEs for entering only Indian markets but we are ready to support them to go global, at no costs,” said Rajnish Goenka, the influential Founder Chairman of India’s MSME Development Forum (IMSME-DF), the first integrated and unified platform for the huge Indian MSME sector. Chairman Goenka was speaking to Sri Lankan Industry, Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons, Cooperative Development, Skills Development and Vocational Training Minister Rishad Bathiudeen on 17 September in Colombo, during a courtesy call on Minister Bathiudeen.
Despite being born to an affluent family of Indian freedom fighters, Chairman Goenka himself is a proven entrepreneur, having created a successful and vast business empire that now extends beyond India to Dubai, China and the US. He is a member of the Indian National Board of Ministry of MSME and was also the National Convenor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Micro and Small Industries Cell in 2014.
“We at the MSME-DF are working in tandem with the Indian Government. We are ready to extend support for marketing, promotion and technology to Sri Lankan SMEs. We are not able to give financial support since there is huge demand by Indian MSMEs for that. We can provide a good platform for Lankan SMEs. My discussions with Minister Bathiudeen and some local entrepreneurs have shown that Sri Lankan SMEs and MSMEs are faced with three types of issues - in finance, marketing and technology. We will support the marketing and technology aspects. For example, I met Lankan entrepreneurs in Colombo who developed medical equipment-related innovations but are unable to find any market opportunities here. We shall provide such Lankan SMEs and innovators with a new market in India,” said Chairman Goenka.
“The MSME-DF not only has a strong presence in the Indian market but also has 35 overseas branches overseas including in the US, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, etc. MSME-DF has 50,000 Indian SMEs as members, 500,000 affiliated Indian SMEs and a database of another two million SMEs. We also serve Indian micro enterprises. As for tech support, it depends on the type of request made by Lankan SMEs. India is the cheapest technology hub in the world. Even many US and French satellites are now launched in India since the costs are very low - only one-sixth of the cost in comparison to their countries. Similarly, many small technologies that can be used by Lankan SMEs can be transferred on a win-win basis. We are ready to facilitate B2B matchmaking for Lankan SMEs with our MSME sector and even with our corporates, totally free. Even if Lankan government agencies have a problem in B2B connectivity with Indian SMEs, we will arrange that free of charge since we are supported by the Indian Government.”
Minister Bathiudeen, welcoming Chairman Goenka’s proposals, said: “India has helped us in many ways and our bilateral cooperation dates back centuries.
“Sri Lanka has a little more than one million registered SMEs and together with micro enterprises and unregistered SMEs, they are a major contributor to our GDP. The first national SME policy of Sri Lanka has been introduced by NEDA under me. Still, financing and micro credit, marketing, innovation, technology and incubation are major hurdles and areas that need support for our SMEs. Therefore I believe that the Indian MSME-DF’s assistance will be invaluable to us. I am sure that our SMEs shall welcome such support, including immediate B2B links and also like to partner Indian SMEs for win-win projects. I shall instruct my ministry officials and the SME agencies under me to move forward on your suggestions.”
India’s dynamic MSME sector is made up of over 46 million units and is one of the largest such sectors in the world, taking 29% of Indian GDP (both SMEs and MSMEs - US $ 783 billion of $ 2.7 trillion Indian GDP, in 2018). India aims to increase MSME’s contribution to GDP to 50% over the next five years under its $ 5 trillion GDP target.
