High Commissioner of India, Vijay Thakur Singh (third from right) with Indian businessmen at the Summit.
The Southeast Asian region in general and Singapore in particular are fervently working to soon turn the “Make In India” plan into a reality through concrete action. Some of the plans are already on the drawing board and will be implemented in the next three years. Entrepreneurs in the region have zeroed in on the Small and Medium Enterprises, (SMEs) for collaboration and manufacturing.
The target is to generate close to US$1 billion of investments from SMEs in Southeast Asia into India, which will serve the twin objectives of “Make In India” and “Act East”. These plans for economic regeneration also coincide with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore.
Singapore is already an important destination for Indian businesses, trade, students and tourists and now is the time to seize the moment and take the relationship to the next higher level through mutual cooperation and through a cross-investment culture.
“It is an opportune time for a quantum jump in the bilateral economic relationship between India and Singapore,” India’s High Commissioner to Singapore, Vijay Thakur Singh, said. She was inaugurating the “Make In India” Global Business Summit 2015 in Singapore.
The conference, organized by the Singapore-based Prospur Events was attended by almost 200 businessmen including an Indian delegation led by the National Small Industries Corp, (NSIC) Managing Director Ravindra Nath.
The Indian government’s “Make In India” initiative is designed to expand the country’s manufacturing base through 25 sectors, Singh said.
NSIC is looking at areas of mutual cooperation to expand India’s industrial presence in South East Asia countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, Nath added. “We are exploring areas of mutual cooperation whereby Indian and Southeast Asian enterprises can set up and build upon economic partnerships,” said Nath, who made a presentation on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at the summit.
Fourteen MSMEs from India attended the summit and held one-on-one parleys for business ventures with their counterparts from the South East Asian countries.
“India can be the new manufacturing location for Singapore companies as they internationalize for economies of scale and try to access new markets and customers,” High Commissioner Singh added.
In recent years, India’s SME sector has generated an annual growth of 10 per cent and Singapore’s businesswomen and businessmen will find this sector more than eager and innovative to develop economic partnerships, she added. Tremendous innovation is happening in India’s SME enterprises, Singh pointed out.
“This new wave of SMEs would therefore be creating an ecosystem that would gear for delivery of right products, right quality, the right solutions and the right service at competitive prices for both domestic and international markets,” Singh said.
“This marks the beginning of our program to encourage “Make In India”, which includes tie-ups and joint ventures between Indian and South East Asian enterprises,” Prospur Events’ managing director Pradeep Maithani elaborated.
“The target is to have Southeast Asian SMEs join hands with Indian enterprises, translating into a combined investment of US$1 billion by December 2017,” he said.
NSIC to “Act East” & connect small enterprises
NSIC, a Government of India Enterprise under the MSME ministry, has been working to fulfill its mission of promoting, aiding and fostering the growth of small industries in the country.
NSIC is a facilitator and wants to see collaboration between Singaporean and Indian enterprises, including cross-country training, sharing of knowledge, expertise and machinery in line with the requirements of both sides. NSIC has already initiated negotiations on similar lines with enterprises in Vietnam and Malaysia. “Our work is towards connecting Indian SMEs with those of other countries,” Nath stressed.
The NSIC is adopting its time tested and successful model that it has applied in building relationships between Indian and African enterprises, in Southeast Asia as well. This includes exports of India-made machineries, expertise, technologies and training for setting new enterprises in the developing economies across the world.
Nath cited an example of India-Botswana SME venture under which India-made HIV medicines will be supplied to the African country for the first three years. Thereafter, after completion of technical training in the manufacturing processes, production will commence in Botswana.
Back home in India, the 1955-founded mini-Ratna, NSIC, is working with micro and small enterprises (MSEs), helping them participate and garner a larger share in the procurement system of public sector enterprises.
“We are in discussions with the public sector companies and government departments to ensure that up to 20 per cent of their procurement should be made through local MSEs,” he said. This procurement process was made mandatory from April this year. However, medium sized enterprises are not covered under the scheme.
If MSEs successfully supply 20 per cent of the allocated requirements of the government departments and public sector undertakings, it will be mutually beneficial for both sides and also incentivize the “Make In India” program, Nath noted.
NSIC is also training Indian youths at its campus, based on industry-specific requirements and making available young skilled manpower to the private sector. As many as 55 companies have recruited the trained and skilled youths from NSIC’s center in Delhi. “It is a win-win situation, the skilled manpower gets the job and the industry gets the trained manpower,” said Nath, assuring foreign investors of skilled manpower for their ventures.
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