SIDBI ET MSME Conclave in Rajkot sees stellar turnout, focuses on building financially resilient MSMEs
SIDBI ET MSME Conclave held in Rajkot saw a stellar turnout.
From conversations around building financially resilient and competitive MSMEs to the challenges that need immediate solutions, the Rajkot edition aimed to understand the role of Gujarat in shaping a viable ecosystem for the MSME sector.
Small and medium industries in the city are dominated by foundries, engineering & automobile works, and units that manufacture textiles, gold & silver jewellery, handicrafts, spices, medicines and wall clocks. Gujarat has the fourth-highest number of micro, small and medium enterprises in the country, after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, according to data provided by the Union government in Parliament last year.
As part of the opening keynote at the Rajkot event, Sudatta Mandal, DMD, SIDBI, spoke about how the number of MSMEs in Gujarat have grown by 60% from 2014-15. “The state is currently home to over 3.5 million MSMEs which are a major source of employment,” he stated. Mandal noted that the MSME lending landscape is undergoing a transformation. “It is buoyed by tech-based innovations in lending,” he added.
Delving on how Rajkot is famous for what it produces, Hansraj Gajera, President — Laghu Udyog Bharti, Saurashtra, lauded the city for its spirit. “Rajkot is known as 'mini Japan'. The city produces almost everything. Even in the Covid times, we saw how resilient Rajkot was in terms of production,” he said in his keynote address at the session.
Gajera said that they urge youngsters to become
