US firms can earn high returns by investing in SMEs: CII

With businesses from India and US coming together to tap the potential of small and medium enterprises in the two countries, CII today said American firms could earn "high returns" by investing in the Indian SMEs.

"Small and medium enterprises (SME) represent a good low-investment high-return opportunity for US SME, who can source niche products from here," CII said.

The next phase of growth in India-US bilateral economic relations will come from the SME sector, it added.
    
Indian SMEs are flexible, reliable, quality conscious, and adaptable. Intellectual property rights are well-respected in India as well, CII President Hari Bhartia said.
     
CII and the US India Business Council recently launched Indo-US Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Forum to tap the potential of the sector to create jobs and increase bilateral investments. The inaugural meeting of the Forum took place in Washington last week.
    
The Forum would engage the CEOs from mid-size companies in each country to work towards facilitating a policy enabling environment for SMEs, Bhartia said.
    
It would also engage in highlighting the concerns of SMEs in US and India, leveraging technology and  sourcing, finding opportunities for bilateral commercial engagement as well as strengthening the global supply chain management systems.
    
The micro, small and medium (MSME) sector contributes 8 per cent to India's GDP, 45 per cent of which is manufactured output, while 40 per cent is from exports. They provide employment to about 60 million persons through 26 million enterprises.