MSMEs to be focus area in forthcoming 6th Vibrant Gujarat Summit

02 January, 2013

The 6th Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit will be held from January 11-13, 2013 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Both the countries, Japan and Canada, are partner countries to this summit.

IN THE previous five summits, good amont of MOUs (Memorandum of Undersandings) have been signed, as per media reports. One of the main focus areas in this summit, organized by the Government, is to attract investments/attention towards MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sectors.

As per the latest government figures, there are 1.78 lakh MSMEs in Gujarat, most of which is concentrated in Surat (75,000 units), Ahmedabad (47,000 units) and Rajkot (14,000 units). Currently, a crucial survey is going on to gauge the health of small business in Gujarat. MSMEs employ around 16 lakh persons across. The results of the survey is expected to be out before the second week of January 2013 when the state government's flagship, Vibrant Gujarat Investors' summit, gets underway, reported The Indian Express.

The survey having a sample size of 15,000 units is being conducted under the aegis of Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), the state-run organisation that assess the progress of industries with reference to number of units, persons employed, amount of investment and value of production. The survey will look at the number of units that have shut down in Gujarat.

It will also analyse the reasons behind the closure of the units. For instance, is it because of lack demand of products manufactured by a particular MSME unit, power shortage, lack of working capital, labour issues, technological issues, etc. This sample survey will constitute about 10 percent of the total 1.78 lakh MSME units in the state.

Going by the above, let's hope the survey findings are accurate in most cases; the Government is rightly laying focus on MSMEs during the above summit because MSMEs can generate lots of job opportunities. The Government should also focus on ensuring that MOUs signed does not remain on paper but actually gets transformed into action.

In the past, some state governments have been successful in conducting many such national/international investors meets and many MOUs got signed in the process but when it comes to implementing these projects in totality during any fiscal year, only a percentage of these MOUs signed got into act and the others could not proceed either to the middle or final stages. Therefore, this time and in future, Governments should be careful to ensure that MOUs signed do proceed in the proper direction within the set time frame for boosting up the economy.