The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vikram Solar Limited in association with Tata Steel Limited and Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited and supported by Peerless Group (Program Partner) organized the annual signature Manufacturing & MSME Conclave and MSME Excellence Awards & MSME Sustainability Awards on 9th, 10th and 11th March, 2022. Silver Sponsors of the program were Vesuvius India Limited and L&T SuFin. The theme of this year’s Conclave was “Unlocking Innovation Opportunities”. The program was organized physically at The Bengal Chamber premises and streamed digitally to reach out to a wider section of the audience.

The competitions for the BCC&I−Tata Steel MSME Excellence Awards and the BCC&I−Vikram Solar MSME Sustainability Awards were held on 9th March, 2022. Manufacturing and Service sector MSMEs from various parts of the country including Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and West Bengal participated in the competition. There was a two−tier screening process by the Jury members. The first tier was evaluation of the application forms by the Jury members. Shortlisted MSMEs were invited to make final presentations of their practices and best cases on 9th March in front of the Jury panel. Based on the two tier evaluation, the following MSMEs were declared winners in the following two categories:

The Annual Manufacturing & MSME Conclave, 2022 was organized on 10th and 11th October, 2022 at The Bengal Chamber premises. More than 160 industry houses, including MSMEs participated physically on each day of the Conclave and several more over digital platforms. At the Conclave, the Chamber organized:

• Panel Discussions
• One−on−one exclusive Fire Side Chat Sessions with leaders from industries
• B2B sessions between large industries and MSMEs

Day 1: 10th October, 2022

The inaugural session of the Conclave was graced by :

• Mr. Sanjay Behera, Chairperson − Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The BCC&I, and CSM−W−BPR, Tata Steel Limited delivered the Welcome Address of the Conclave. At the Welcome Address, he mentioned that MSME entrepreneurs, who practice and adopt innovation, help their organization reach to the next level. He encouraged MSMEs to explore this pathway, instead of moving ahead only with traditional business practices
• Mr. Abraham Stephanos, President, The BCC&I, and Managing Director, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited delivered the Inaugural and Theme address of the program, where he mentioned that India is poised at a period of very high growth. In the next couple of decades, India is expected to do what China did between 1980 and 2000 − take a quantum leap in infrastructure, manufacturing technologies and service sector technologies. He further mentioned that in some areas India is already ahead, for example, in IT Enabled Services (ITES), India is providing services to the rest of the World; in Pharmaceuticals sector, India is a significant supplier to the rest of the World.

• Mr. Nick Low, British Deputy High Commissioner, Government of the United Kingdom (UK) − Chief Guest of the program, deliberated on collaborative opportunities between Indian industries and their UK counterparts as well as with UK Universities and Research Institutes. Mr. Low, while speaking at the inaugural session, shared that the UK has around 50 lakhs small business houses. Small businesses in the UK have employee strength of 1−49. He mentioned that 99.2% of the businesses in the UK are SMEs, employing around 16.3 million people, which translate to around 3 in every 5 jobs in the UK are generated by the SMEs. SMEs, he emphasized, are the heart of the UK economy. The gross turnover of the SMES in the UK is 2.3 trillion Pounds, which is around 52% of the value of the UK economy. Only 10% of the UK SME sector is wholesale, retail, repair centers and 15% are scientific and technical centers. West Bengal, with almost similar population of that of the UK has more than 80 lakh MSMEs.

• Dr. Krishna Gupta, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Technical Education, Training & Skill Development, Government of West Bengal − Guest of Honor of the program, reflected on the employability issues faced by the industries, especially the MSMEs and the initiatives taken by the Government of West Bengal to address the same. He mentioned that apart from the ITIs and Polytechnics, there are 3 models under the Utkarsh Bangla scheme:

• Industry led training model − demand driven model
• Assured Placement training model − the candidate gets a job offer even before the training begins, subjected to the completion of the training by the candidates
• Letter of Intent based training

The focus he mentioned is “Placement” of students. He further mentioned that customized training modules may be preparedby the Department, based on the requirements by the industries

• Mr. P. K. Wilson Purty, Chief of Marketing − FP −BPR, Tata Steel Limited shared with the participants the special initiative by Tata Steel for MSME sector in the country. He mentioned that Tata Steel is connected with more than 10,000 MSMEs across the country. These MSMEs are their customers. These MSME customers are a large, diversified group, having different sorts of applications and products. The Steel produced by Tata Steel is not directly used by the MSMEs. It needs to be customized. Hence, Tata Steel works with hundreds of Channel Partners and Distributors, who deliver the customized steel products in type and forms that the MSME customers want within the specified timeline. The processed steel is certified to certain standards and parameters. Apart from the Channel Partners there are 800 sales work forces who engage with the 10,000 MSMEs. There are 55 customer service centers across the country. Tata Steel works with 80 different micro segments, where the requirements are very unique and different and hence 15 years back the organization conceptualized a specialized division to work with the MSMEs. The division constantly works to customize the products according to the requirements of the MSME customers. Nexarc.in from House of Tata is a digital b2b platform for facilitating emerging businesses. 7 platforms have been orchestrated as One − ‘nexarc.in’:

• Business Connections
• Business Infoware
• Business Advisory
• Business Applications
• Business Services
• Business Solutions
• Business Loyalty

• Ms. Neha Agrawal, Whole−time Director, Vikram Solar Limited addressed the participants on “Evolution of Energy Industry in India and its impact on manufacturing sector”. She emphasized on how India can be made energy−rich. She underlined bringing country wide socio− economic and transformational changes through innovation in the energy sector. She mentioned that India’s energy consumption has grown by 5.5% per annum since 1980, which is at par with all developing and developed countries, particularly in Asia. The consumption is expected to go up to 6.5% in the next 2 years. India is home to 18% of the world’s population, but consumes only 6% of the primary energy. Although coal dominates India’s power market with around 70% share, India is leading the energy transformation with its recently achieved 157 GW of renewable energy. In the last few years, the country’s renewable energy (RE) has experienced a growth of 250%. From 15 GW installed capacity of solar in 2010, India has now 50 GW of installed solar plants. She mentioned that RE can steer the growth in the manufacturing sector, with special focus in the MSME sector. The focus can be on green energy manufacturing thereby steering green job generation, improving industrial structure, bringing in investments, improving the research & development, generating huge revenue from exports, enabling higher investments, and reducing India’s FOREX outflow.This can help India become a global manufacturing and supply chain hub of renewable energy. India’s 60% population is in the working age, thereby can drive India towards becoming the global manufacturing hub of green energy.

• Mr. Debabrata Mitra, IEDS, Director and Head of Office, MSME Development Institute, Kolkata, Government of India in his special address to the MSMEs deliberated on the ways to become self−reliance. He emphasized on the post COVID initiatives undertaken by the MSME Department such as:

• Udyam Registration Portal: From Udyog Aadhar Memorandum, the Government of India shifted to Udyam portal, where already 75.9 lakhs MSMEs are registered as on date. The MSMEs can apply for the Government schemes, provided they are registered on the Udyam portal
• The MSMEs have been exempted from having GST IN. Earlier it was mandatory for MSMEs to have GST IN
• Further, the Government of India decided to provide priority sector lending privilege to the wholesale and retail traders
• The Government also has taken initiatives to include urban street vendors under MSME category
• The Government also introduced the SAMADHAN portal for delayed payments. So far, around Rs 50 crores dues have been paid to the beneficiary MSMEs under the scheme, between January, 2021 and November, 2021
• The Government is about to launch a new scheme, titled, MSME Champion scheme. The scheme shall be formulated by merging the old schemes, which used to be known as the TUS schemes with an objective to unify, synergize and provide accumulated benefits of various other schemes.

There are three components under the scheme:

• MSME sustainable scheme (revised from the previous ZED scheme)
• MSME competitive scheme (lean manufacturing is under this scheme)
• MSME innovative scheme (launched on 10th March, 2022 on the day of the program, which includes incubation, IPR, design and digital MSME)

• Mr. Nitin Jain, Co−Chairperson, the Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The BCC&I and Managing Director & Vice President − India & South East Asia, Vesuvius India Limited in his concluding remarks of the inaugural session mentioned that without continuous innovation, be it large or SME industries, it is impossible to remain relevant. Alongside innovation, the Chamber has been relentlessly putting efforts to help industries adopt measures to become sustainable and promoting automation amongst the industry fraternity. Keeping these in mind the Manufacturing & MSME committee of The Chamber organizes year−long activities. To encourage sustainable measures amongst MSMEs, The Chamber has initiated the annual MSME Sustainability Awards from this year along with the annual MSME Excellence Awards. The Chamber also recently organized a workshop on “Digitalization, Automation and Introduction to Industry 4.0”. He wished that the 2 days’ Conclave would add much value to the business houses present.

Session 2:

The inaugural session was followed by a Fire Side Chat Session with Mr. Nitin Jain, Managing Director & Vice President − India & South East Asia, Vesuvius India Limited on the theme “Accelerating Innovation and Reimagining Business Models in Manufacturing”. Mr. Arnab Basu, Vice President, The BCC&I, and Advisory Leader & Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers interviewed Mr. Jain. The session focused on highlighting new approaches in innovation across business models that have emerged during the COVID−19 crisis and that will be instrumental in transforming customer experiences, creating new value and driving growth. The discussion focused on the role of advanced manufacturing technologies as the key enabler of innovation and transformation across industries and geographies. Mr. Jain mentioned that Vesuvius had always served and been with the customers and that has propelled their constant growth for the last 200 years. Mr. Jain emphasized on the fact that training and development of resources is a key towards sustainability of any business house. He shared that Vesuvius has a global vertical that only focuses on automation and robotics. Speaking about innovation, he revealed that numbers of trials are carried on by the company, such as, alpha trial, beta trial and so on, before any product is launched in the market. Moreover, market readiness of the products is also tested. Sharing initiatives of Vesuvius on how they are aspiring to constantly reduce carbon footprint, he shared that, by end of 2022, 25% of the energy will be drawn from sustainable sources by Vesuvius. Constant monitoring of Carbon Footprint has also been another key strength of Vesuvius. Maintaining safety is a significant pillar for Vesuvius. Mr. Jain also shared with the participants that the aspiration to retain employees by the company has worked well till date and the attrition rate is well below industry average. Vesuvius has been identifying talents at young age, through their GET programs, where Vesuvius constantly invests. Another key initiative has been to rotate resources across various verticals of the organization every 2−3 years, which has always helped resources to gain a holistic knowledge about the organization. He concluded by stating that the focus of Vesuvius in the next 5 years would be:

• Sustainability
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Championing cutting edge technologies of Vesuvius in India, which are already in use by the organization in other countries
• How Vesuvius India and South East Asia can take bigger shares of innovation?

Session 3:

The enthralling Fire Side Chat Session was followed by a panel discussion on the theme “Automation, Digitalization and Industry 4.0 − A way forward for industries”. Key speakers at the session were:

• Dr. SurjyaKanta Pal, Professor − Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
• Dr. Jose Martin Korath, Chief − Intelligent Systems & Mathematical Modeling, Automation Division, Tata Steel Limited
• Dr. Bharat Bhushan, Chief Digital Officer, Tata Metaliks Limited
• Mr. Ravi Kumar, Chief Digital Officer, Exide Industries Limited
• Mr. Naresh Kumar Agrawal, Head − IT & Applications, Vikram Solar Limited

The moderator of the session was Mr. Sanjay Behera, Chairperson, Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The BCC&I and CSM−W−BPR, Tata Steel Limited. The session was beneficial for the MSME participants as it helped MSMEs understand how they can also adopt automation and industry 4.0 at a reduced cost. Suggestions from experts included opting for digitization first that would include paperless and touch−lessshop−floor. The suggestions included replacing log sheets with mobile phones, by creating simple form−based applications. MSMEs can contemplate having QR codes on machines. Whenever, an operator starts a machine he can scan the QR code, which will capture the time of operation. Cameras installed in shop floors can also capture a lot of data. The crux of Industry 4.0 is accumulation of data. Hence, it would be beneficial to invest on data management and storing the same in a centralized database or data warehouse. After receiving the data, the same needs to be analyzed and identified how it can be used to improve performance. Key recommendations by the experts included research by MSMEs to identify means and mechanisms which will help to improve performance with minimum or no capital investment.

 Session 4 :

The Panel Discussion was followed by a Fire Side Chat Session with Mr. Abhilash Pillai, Chief Commercial Officer, L&T SuFin, on the theme “E−Marketing: A new domain to explore for Business Houses”. The session was moderated by Mr. SamujjalGanguly, Member, Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The BCC&I and Plant Head, Vikram Solar Limited. L&T SuFin offers a B2B platform, an e−commerce marketplace for industries and manufacturing MSMEs. The organization aims to integrate Supply Chain with Finance. L&T has already been practicing a lot of e−business and digital businesses. L&T have already launched a huge Edu−Tech business in October, 2021. The key benefits that may be obtained by the MSMEs from the platform are:

• Supply chain issues, such as transporting materials from point A to Point B will be done by L&T SuFin, thereby reducing the pressure on MSMEs
• The B2B in industries is plagued by outstanding amounts, which will be addressed by the platform

The platform will enable the buyers and sellers to connect beyond boundaries and limitations. A thorough checking at the offices, factory premises and warehouses of the seller is undertaken by L&T to ensure that the seller can adhere to the specified timeline to deliver the material, as per the purchase order. Order bases, credit rating, bank records, litigations happening at civil courts of the buyers and sellers are also evaluated by L&T SuFin. Risk mitigation is ensured through such due diligence mechanisms to ensure that both buyers and sellers may be trusted. L&T has also tied up with a few leading logistics players, who are not only aggregators but ground level logistics players, located pan India. L&T has also tied up with banks and NBFCs for invoice discounting, which will further facilitate the MSMEs. For mid−corporates and large−corporates L&T has channel funding partners. The L&T SuFin platform has already over 46 categories for MSMEs with more than 20,000 active participants, as on 10th March, 2022. On the same day there were transactions in atleast 42 categories. Of these 46 categories, L&T is already purchaser of most of the categories. Hence, L&T is already aware of the nuances that happen while making the purchases and the nuances that keep on repeating while repeating the purchases. Hence, while developing the platform, L&T has considered all the nuances. The platform was launched on 7th March, 2022.

 Session 5:

The Fire Side Chat Session was followed by a Panel Discussion on “Finding Innovative Solutions to Support MSMEs”. This was the last session of Day 1. The panelists were :

• Mr. Jayesh Taori, Associate Vice President − Listing Business Development, National Stock Exchange. He discussed about the Emerge Platform, how the MSMEs can benefit from it, how they can list themselves, and the opportunities.
• Dr. Arijit Banerjee, Director, RAMAESIS RPL, popularly known as Toilet Man of Bengal, presented the perspective of MSMEs

NSE Emerge is a platform for growing SMEs across India to list its equity on the Stock Exchange. The platform was launched in September, 2012 and is regulated by SEBI. This is a separate segment in NSE with same trading terminals as main board and same trading members and merchant bankers as main exchange. The first company to be listed on the platform was Thejo Engineering on 18th September, 2012, which raised around INR 19 crores from Equity Capital market. Total number of companies listed on the platform is 241 and total capital raised is Rs 3,683.21 crores. The average issue size is Rs 15.28 crores. Manufacturing, textiles, IT, facility management are some of the key sectors. There are 21 sectors. Of the 241 companies, till date, 100 companies listed on NSE Emerge have migrated to Main Board. The key value proposition to issuers include: efficient raising of capital, higher visibility, credibility, appropriate valuation, corporate governance, migration to main board. NSE eligibility criteria include :

• 3 years operational history
• Operational profit for atleast 2 years out of 3 FY (earnings before interest, depreciation and tax)
• Positive Net worth

SEBI eligibility criteria include :

• Issuer’s post issue paid up capital
  • Rs 10−25 crore: SME/Main Board
  • <Rs 10 crore: SME Board only

A company can list on NSE Emerge platform by following the steps :

1. Interaction with NSE SME team
2. Appointment  of Intermediaries
3. Preparation of Offer Documents
4. Filing of Offer Document with NSNE
5. NSE working and Due Diligence
6. In−Principle Approval by NSE
7. Listing

Dr. Banerjee mentioned that despite the multiple checks and balances delayed payment to MSMEs remain the major area of concern. He mentioned that if timely payments could have been realized, then the need of bank loans would have reduced. He further mentioned that there are multiple B2B online platforms, such as, GeM, L&T SuFin, but business happens because of business relationships, relationship with clients. There are mechanisms of checks and balances such as, SAMADHAN, but if an MSME approaches through SAMADHAN, the business relationship would not continue with the client.

Day 2: 11thOctober, 2022

 Session 1 :

Day 2 commenced with an engaging virtual Fire Side Chat Session with Mr. Jayanta Roy, Deputy Managing Director, Peerless Group on the theme, “Bangali o Byabshayi”. Mr. Roy was interviewed by Mr. Tanmoy Banerjee, Co−Chairperson, Skill Development Committee, The BCC&I and Director, RT Network Solutions Private Limited. At the session, the Chamber presented to the audience, the legacy of Peerless, especially in financial services and investment sector; their support to the business houses with financial services. The session also provided a way forward to inspire the business fraternity from Bengal about being resilient and innovative, which are the key pillars to success. Mr. Roy mentioned that majority of the intellectual Bengalis aspire either to become civil servants or teachers and professors. Speaking about the journey of Peerless, he shared that late Shri Radhashyam Roy, his forefather, who initiated the Peerless Insurance Company, was a primary school teacher. In his spare time he used to work as an agent of a European insurance company. In 1931, there was a vacancy at that European insurance company. In those days there used to be a written test followed by a viva. He did exceedingly well in the written test. During the viva, he was rejected on the ground of being an Indian and was told that the post was meant only for an English person. Following the incident, Mr. Roy founded the Peerless Insurance Company. Foundation of Peerless lies in dignity and self−respect. At that time only the Europeans were allowed, in India, to get insurances. His vision was to restrict outflow of Indian currency to European nations. Speaking about constant innovation, he further mentioned that, the group had started an incubation centre at their hospitality facility in Mukutmanipur, to identify why people leave jobs. Following the assessment, the Peerless Skill Academy was founded in 2018. In a journey of only 4 years, of which 2 years have been affected by COVID, the Skill Academy has been able to help about 7,000 people to become somebody from a nobody. A few of the examples include, people from Sunderbans getting jobs in banking sector, daughter of a rickshaw puller getting engaged in healthcare sector. This passion of what difference is the company making, what value addition it is doing to the society, helps the Group to become different. Peerless as a Group has been able to be a frontrunner as it has always valued its employees and have always been providing employee benefits. The Group has always encouraged “Learn from the Job” mechanism. Hiring people with strong domain knowledge have always expedited innovation at the Group. Sharing an example, he said that when India emerged to an open economy in 1991, following economic reforms, the Group in order to be the front runners amongst its competitors introduced innovative schemes, such as daily deposit schemes, direct marketing as a business model, core banking opportunities for customers as early as in 1990s. The bottom line, he emphasized, is to reinvent, by constantly identifying customer needs.

 Session 2 :

The Fire Side Chat Session was followed by another engaging session of the Conclave, a Panel Discussion Session on the theme, “Self−Reliance and MSMEs − Challenges, Opportunities and Managing Business in current Scenario”. The panelists were leading professionals and entrepreneurs from the MSME fraternity:

• Mr. Subir Ray, Director, D. Kapur Private Limited
• Dr. Arijit Banerjee, Director, RAMAESIS RPL (popularly known as Toilet Man of Bengal)
• Mr. Indranil Dutta, Co−chairperson, The Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The BCC&I, and CEO, Datre Corporation Limited
• Mr. Rabin Roy, Founder and CEO, Sustiknow Advisory Private Limited and Reclair Energy Private Limited
• Mr. Jayanta Basu, CEO, Techo Enterprise

The Moderator of the session was Mr. C. R. Maitra, Senior Member of the Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The BCC&I and Expert in APQP, TQM, PBE, BBSC, QPD, DoE, FMEA, DFA.

The key issues identified by the panelistswere:

• Product and market diversification holds the key to success for the manufacturing MSME sector
• MSMEs can be the torchbearers of change; as these are the units which are struggling day in and day out with multiple issues
• MSMEs need to co−exist, share and learn amongst groups of same fraternity. While there would be competitions, knowledge sharing holds the key towards growth
• Some of the panelists mentioned that in 2016, 4.5 crore people were employed in the manufacturing MSME sector, but in 2021 the workforce has reduced by 50%, owing to COVID and other few issues
• Timely payment to MSMEs from larger industries holds the key towards sustainable existence of the MSMEs
• Believe in one’s own product, development and innovation holds the key to success of the MSMEs
• MSMEs need to address a lot of daily burning issues, for example daily absenteeism of employees. This largely impacts the commitment towards timely delivery by MSMEs
• Waste Management, Sustainability, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy holds key to savings in MSME units
• Another key challenge of MSMEs is that they lack capturing data. Due to lack of appropriate data management and analysis, several MSME units are unable to appropriately price their products. Even if data is available, it’s available somewhere on pen and paper, which lacks analysis and hence the challenge. Moreover, units lack database management; improper logging of data is also a key challenge. It’s important to capture and analyze the data digitally.

 Session 3:

The session with, by and for the MSMEs was followed by another pertinent Panel Discussion on “Co−ordination between MSMEs and Large Industries: Challenge and Opportunities”. The Panelists of the Session included :

• Mr. Aravind K S, Associate Vice President, Tally Solutions Private Limited
• Mr. ParthaBasu, Regional Lead − East, L&T SuFin
• Mr. Arijit Banerjee, Senior Manager (Business Planning and Analytics), Vikram Solar Limited
• Mr. Shailesh Choubey, Chief − Marketing & Sales Administration, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited (TSDPL)

The session was moderated by Mr. Pritish K Sen, Immediate Former Chairperson, The Manufacturing & MSME Committee,The BCC&I, and former Director General, Institute of Steel Development & Growth (INSDAG).

The panelists held the common view that to create an enabling business ecosystem MSMEs and large industries need to co− exist and support each other. While without the support from large industries, MSMEs would find it difficult to exist and grow; the large industries would also find it extremely difficult to remain sustainable, price effective and ultimately grow without the support from the MSMEs.

Prize Distribution Ceremony for MSMEs:

The two days’ Conclave came to a conclusion with the Awards Distribution Ceremony for the MSMEs in the two categories:

• MSME Excellence Awards
• MSME Sustainability Awards

Concluding Remarks

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Sanjay Behera, Chairperson − Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The BCC&I, and CSM− W−BPR, Tata Steel Limited mentioned that the major message emanated from the two days’ Conclave is that MSME transformation is critical for the success of the larger players and for the country. People, process and product and integrating with the larger value chain hold key to the success of the MSME sector. Integrating MSMEs to the digital ecosystem is another key pillar towards their growth. Heappreciated all MSMEs who have overcome the obstacles, that have repeatedly impaired the growth, and taken a forward looking path.

Apart from our Title Sponsor, Program Partners, Gold Sponsors and Silver Sponsors we also had the following organizations supporting the program as sponsors. The sponsors include:

• Bronze Sponsors:
• Exide Industries Limited
• International Combustion (India) Limited
• National Stock Exchange
• D. Kapur Private Limited
• Sustiknow Advisory Private Limited
• Reclair Energy Private Limited
• International Export House
• Precision Transmission Chain
• Krishna Transport
• Technical Partner:
• Tally Solutions Private Limited
• Packaging Partner
• Lintas Packaging Private Limited
• Engineering Partner
• Datre Corporation Limited
• Lighting Partner
• Philvel (Fabricast Equipment)
• MSME Supporter
• Techo Enterprise
• Ramesis RPL Perfect Pause
• Sunny Ray Solutions Private Limited