 "Rajeev Chandrasekhar")
In the post-Covid world, there has been a start to a reshaping of global value chains for products and services. And there is a greater focus and greater desire to ensure that global trade in global value chains is those that are resilient and those that can be trusted, said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
“I think the Indian economy and Indian economic participants, more importantly, SMBs (small and medium businesses) can play a big role in the coming years in terms of providing goods and services to the world,” said Chandrasekhar, during a session at Amazon Smbhav 2022, the e-commerce giant’s flagship annual summit.
The small and medium enterprises of India dominate the workforce and constitute a large percentage of employment opportunities and jobs.
“Their viability, sustenance, and ability to grow and access multiple markets is an important element of policymaking for the Government of India,” said Chandrasekhar. “It is indeed an important part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.”
He said India is now resetting its ambitions to be a bigger and larger player in the manufactured products segment of global trade. He said it is important that the SMBs of India use technologies and are indeed assisted by those who have a large presence on the Internet like companies like Amazon- to enable market access and to ensure their business growth.
India is becoming a large exporter of merchandise and manufactured products. The country achieved an all-time high annual merchandise exports, touching $ 417.81 billion in FY 2021-22, an increase of 43.18 per cent over $291.81 billion in the previous fiscal, according to government data. India's merchandise exports moved up 30.7 per cent to $40.19 billion in the month of April this year.
Chandrasekhar said this is one month (April) into the new year which shows that the country is going to even top that number of last year. India is on its way to being a large exporting nation on the back of not just large enterprises, but with a mix of large enterprises and a healthy significant contribution by the SMBs of India.
“India is rapidly emerging as a leader in exports and manufacturing,” said Chandrasekhar.
Over the last few years, especially during Covid-19, India has used technology and the power of digitally empowered enterprises both small and big. This was to ensure that the economy rebounds from the deep disruptive impact of the pandemic,
“It is a ‘black swan’ event that has impacted lives and livelihoods all over the world,” said Chandrasekhar. “This also impacted India to a large part after that first quarter, wherein we had to lock down cities in preparation for the pandemic.”
It is the digital technologies and digitally empowered enterprises that have helped rebound the economy. E-commerce and logistics infrastructure are an absolutely critical part of the equation for India’s success in being a large trusted manufacturing partner to the world.
Chandrasekhar said he has repeatedly sought out and spoken to and requested the larger platforms like Amazon- that they have indeed a responsibility and the power to do good to the SMBs of India. “They can connect the SMBs of India to markets that Amazon today services all around the world.”
Amazon has helped digitize over 2.5 million, or 25 lakh MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and has made investments of over a billion dollars.
At the first edition of Amazon Smbhav, held in 2020, Amazon pledged to digitise 10 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); enable $10 billion in cumulative exports from India, and create 2 million jobs in the country by 2025
“The goal that Amazon has set out to digitize 10 million MSMEs is indeed a goal that we are all partners in, and it’s an important strategic goal for our nation,” said Chandrasekhar.
He said it is absolutely critical of the government’s own goals of digitizing the economy. Small businesses need to have access to digital platforms to reach markets and customers in India and abroad. “There is clearly a need for a strong partnership between government and platforms like Amazon and others who are in this space.”
