GUWAHATI, Dec 25 - The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Government of India, with support from SIDBI and the National Stock Exchange, organised the third MSME Summit in the city recently.
Welcoming the speakers and participants, Ishantor Sobhapandit, Regional Director, ICC, spoke about the role of the MSME sector for India�s economic growth and developing the North East and exploring the geographical advantages that the region enjoys for improving the trade linkages with its immediate neighbours and South East Asia.
Ashutosh Agnihotri, Commissioner & Secretary, Dept of Industries & Commerce, Govt of Assam, who was the special guest on the occasion, stressed the need for coordination between SIDBI, MSME and other financial organisations. He also called for developing an MSME-friendly environment in the North East, especially Assam.
�The State government is also working towards it and progress has been positive with the implementation of digitisation of most of the processes of the Dept of Industries & Commerce,� he said.
M Sreenivasulu, Director, MSME-Development Institute, Ministry of MSME, Govt of India, elaborated the role of the government in enabling a more MSME-friendly environment in the North East and turning the �Make in India� vision into a reality.
Sanjeev Gupta, DGM, SIDBI and Ashim Baidya, Manager, SIDBI, discussed their respective bank�s role in promoting, financing and developing the SME sector and also �Mudra� and �Standup� initiatives.
Tojo Banerjee, AVP, National Stock Exchange, raised the issue of the role of capital markets towards SME funding.
Anil Kumar Brahma, Foreign Trade Development Officer, DGFT, Govt of India, discussed the DGFT�s role in export promotion with special focus on the North East.
Manoj Das, Director of the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, spoke on entrepreneurship development in the North East.
Pranab Kumar Borah, GM, DICC, Kamrup Metro, dwelt on simplification of statutory rules and regulations to enable more MSME startups in the State.
Gaurab Garodia, chartered accountant, threw light on the impact of GST and its future role in the SME sector.
The event was attended by more than 70 delegates from financial institutions, banks and stock exchanges, besides representatives from industry, manufacturing units, exporters and importers, private equity firms and venture capitalists, food processing units, consultancy organisations, individual clusters, etc.
