SME - Its role and importance.

SMEs (Small and medium size enterprises) in India plays a very important role in building the country’s economy. They help in providing a constant economic growth, provides jobs and employment, not only this but also help in sustaining a downfall where there is a recession. So, I’d go a little higher and say the SMEs help in keeping the country’s economy alive.

In reality, there is not a sector or an industry to which the SMEs don’t cater to. They range from textiles, and agriculture, pharmaceutical to food and beverages and not to forget the IT sectors. So it covers a wide variety of sectors. While they work tirelessly day in and day out, they can be compared to the VVS Laxmans, the Rahul Dravids and the Steve Waughs of international cricket. Like them, they are the unsung heroes of the corporate world, quietly employing a staggering 81million in the 36units they work in and also providing an astonishing 45% of the total industry output as per the recent surveys by the ENTREPRENEUR MAGAZINE. I really loved the article on it, the importance of SMEs. This blog is inspired from it in a way. Providing a GDP of 7.9% in 2012-2013, the SMEs can be called as the backbone of India’s economic growth.

 Though the SME sector seems to be in a good state now thanks to the previous two budgets (2012 and 2013), it still has a few shortcoming and faces new challenges now. Why I stress upon this is because this sector has a great potential to help India outshine its neighboring countries and revive the economy in the county’s favor.

A few problems that I feel they face are discussed here. Firstly it’s the inadequate infrastructure. That seems to be the biggest problem in all the sectors here. Except the top industries who can actually afford something really fancy, the others out of great difficulty manage to get a decent infrastructure. The growing land rates and various other revenues hit hard on the entrepreneur’s heart and half the time this is the main reason why the man backs out to start his own enterprise.

Skilled labor is one of the biggest issues we face. There is no real technical knowledge imparted to the youth of India. Hardly 20% of the studying population has the ability to break through the chain and get them equipped for the existing industry demands. The large chunk of population suffers due to various reasons and the SMEs generally wouldn't have the resources and the capital, this’ll mean that they’re forced to hire unskilled labor and spend time training them thus hitting the level of production hard. This is a larger issue when the progress of the nation is taken into account. This has to be worked upon.

Finance was and always is a big issue for the Indian players. The system is very tedious and messy and funds are often misused.

With the rise in inflation being this high, another factor which becomes very evident is the power. The power generation and supply is very important to these tireless workers. There is not a single day in the SME sector when work is not done since they sometimes are seasonal operators i.e. they change with the production based on the demand and season.  One good thing is that there are some able leaders recognizing this and are willing to supply power and lands at reasonable rates but this plan is happening majorly in the north of India leaving the south behind and this shouldn't create a dividend of sorts. This is a challenge within the states and each state should adopt this policy to be more SME friendly.

There are two other major problems in this, since not all the SME sector require actual training and manufacturing techniques, there are hundreds and thousands of individual players who invest their money in building these SMEs this creates a lot of competition and it gets so bad that they run the show just to beat each other up. Also, marketing is a big factor. They must focus of this instead of trying to spoil one’s run. But the cost of marketing being this high and due to lack of information on how to market, this can be a daunting factor to make a name. But sadly many wither our and die before that can die.

But there is good news for the SMEs in this current budget. It has extended its non-tax benefits for SMEs and setting up new and better informed and equipped incubators and support centers for the growth of SMEs. There is also a talk of providing land and power at subsidized rates till the SME grows to be self sufficient. So a lot of good stuff is happening. The reach needs to be stronger. I sincerely feel India is at its transition state. I really do hope it catches up. We still have a long way to go.

But for SMEs in the current budget, things seem bright!

India and its need to build Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are people who help generate jobs, open new businesses and carry out business deals. They can also be recognized as people who are initiative, innovative and motivated. They look for opportunities, identify them and seize them with open hand to make merry of it not necessarily for economic purposes. A more truthful definition of entrepreneurs apart from the flashier pars mentioned above are people who work extremely hard in order to pursue their passion, take it to a new level, having sleepless nights till their dreams become a reality, and still continue to work hard to take this dream to heights that it hasn't seen before. Thus an entrepreneur has to constantly think, generate, innovate and recreate to channelize his dream. Sometimes the scratch is so scratchy that it is nothing but the belief for the man to do so.

Entrepreneurs are no doubt the best resources to any country. Entrepreneurs are primarily responsible for the growth of a nation in terms of economy, social, and cultural. And we have seen that countries which grow, and nurture entrepreneurs are the ones that have had successful growths. This again is mixed with the various actors of the country which may also include the political condition, the geographic condition etc to support it.

In a country like ours, which is tied to a lot of political and cultural baggage, it is difficult to sustain a growth for a start up. There are a 101 policies and round trips which you’ll have to make to various offices and hearing out the terms and legal constraints can leave you with a damped spirits. Of course! Money gets things done here too. But this should not be the case. Considering the period in which we’re at the leaders must re-think the start-up policies and make the system more entrepreneur friendly for growth to happen. We can be thankful enough to the entrepreneurs who have broken such barriers and have come out successful in our country. It is, for you, that they've laid a path of struggle to follow and lead once you see light and perhaps to spread it too.

At the moment the tide is in India’s favor having a staggering youth population of more that 42% and this is a huge asset to our country. At this junction it becomes primarily important for us to build a society which is healthy, happy and productive in terms thinking, growth and manufacturing. India, being at its peak of demographic dividend (Demographic Dividend is the rise rate of the economic growth due to rising\large share of working age people in a population) needs to understand and utilize this opportunity to create and nurture more and more entrepreneurs. To do this, to see India sustain this period it is absolutely important to grow entrepreneurs.

The coming few years will help us decide whether the tied dies or grows with its potential and I sincerely hope that India does its best in opening its mind to entrepreneurs for they are the ones who can provide a better living. Once again stating, entrepreneurs are the rich resources of our country.

tisk tisk! First Love.

The more you deny it, the more it clings onto you. Let’s face it; whoever said that the first love makes a lasting impression in one’s life sure had a glass of vodka in his hand. You know... Men always speak the truth when they’re drunk. Well mine’s gone and been a while now and I’m totally over it. But I can’t help but acknowledge the little things that bring a smile on your face when you look back. You know after a while it probably doesn't matter if you had a sad ending or a happy one. You just get used to it after the mean Ekta Kapoor soap episodes of dim light falling on you with music that make you faint and tear drops filling up a bucket just enough to wash your car! The truth is your first love leaves a mark, sometime quite literally too!

Usually when you get hitched, and this may seem apt for the loves following your first love too, the first 6 months (generally in the case of your first love) or 2 to 3 months (generally from your successive ones) are termed as the honeymoon period where all’s forgiven. Even your biggest crime is treated with a laugh. Your insult is probably nudged by a shoulder. Perhaps after the first love... 2^nd, 3^rd, 4th and as the list goes on the tolerance level drops down until we’re sick and tired of it and ask our parents to find us a “good” girl\boy. Technically, for all the nerds, time is inversely proportional to tolerance and for the food enthusiasts, Love is like soup, the first mouthful is very hot, and the ones that follow gradually become very cold.

After a good time has passed and the beards are dropped\dark circles are removed and you turn on the search engine for the prospects, perhaps successful in meeting and talking to quite a few, you realize that this is a part of “growing up”. More often than not, your first love, however serious and eventful, will come to you as a roller coaster ride with a lot of curiosity and foolishness.  Mind you, I used the word roller coaster, so it is clear that there may be some with a lot of endurance and promises to be the only one, so with all respect to that comes curiosity and foolishness. You’ll laugh at how stupidly foolish you were trying to get a glimpse every time he\she passes by, ride your vehicle\flaunt your dupatta so fast in front of her\him that they’ll get impressed. Now, we all grown men\women look at our tiny little brothers and sisters do the same and can’t imagine how silly it must have been. As for people who took a long time to come out of it can refer to love as snakes, if they don’t kill you, they’ll probably paralyze you.

Now, there is not a darn thing that you wouldn't do to fight for your love. That’s all said and done. The problems start when you fight with your love. Usually if the guy\girl is a hot property there are a few hyena like scavengers waiting to grab on to every possible chance they get. When it comes to being foolish, not many of them pass in it. Because it is your first time, it’s okay to screw up. Raging hormones, parental pressure, peer pressure and the fact that you need to keep the other happy makes you go a step beyond and that is quite often referred to as overdoing or crossing the boundaries. Now the reason I say that not many pass in it is because we are too naive to understand where we come from. The ignorance is a tad too much for it to be understood or explained and that is what screws things up. Like they say “the magic of first love is our ignorance that it can never end.” That’s where we often go wrong. And for the ones who pass, well dear friends, lady luck has stood by your side.

After the honeymoon period has gone, Boom! Reality bites in and bites hard. Each and every move is scrutinized under a microscope. And once you’re caught up in this cycle it’s a herculean task to get out and start fresh.  And sometimes it ends in a break up. To those of you who get a second chance, well again you've got luck by your side and some of them who don’t, well it’s mostly a lonely couple of months, putting on some weight, watching the movies you probably would watch even under a threat of a gunshot and running through a few pictures of your happy times together.

The fact is your first love does leave a mark. None of the sadness will probably sting if you’re heard out properly and if patience can be the key. Time does heal everything. All the pain, the anger, the love or the hatred.  Even to people who've had bad ending, after the process of “growing up” you’ll now keep laughing at the slightest remembrance of an event that’ll link you to your past. Well this is life folks! We all grow up. For the ones who don’t, life will rot and lie in an egg shell. But for the ones who do life is all about seeing things in a different way and you imbibe so much from seeing others and learning from the mistakes of the past. You grow and become a better person so much that you wished if your past was with you at your present.

For all the first timers out there, this is no history lesson. This is just to tell you that the first love is perhaps going to be with you for a very long time. Worry not of what things are in the end, just take the leap of faith and live it up fully. If you’re a bit to serious about it, show patience and love when they’re low. That’s when they need it and it makes wonders. Personally, I respect my first a lot. I wished I’d saved some of the photos of my past instead of burying them to have a happy laugh in the present now. Like Daphne du Maurier says I'm glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say. Live it with no regrets. Hell! You can always blame the raging hormones for any flaw!  But first love.  Magical and Stings like a bee.