Innovations, without a doubt, act as a driving force for the economy. In 2015, India ranked 81 out of 141 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII). By 2020, in just five years, India secured the 48th position, breaking into the ranks of the top 50 countries in the index, among the 131 countries analyzed. This is quite telling of the improvement India has made in ushering an environment of innovation and creativity.
India hosts over 63 million micro, small and medium enterprises, which provide employment to over 120 million people, making it the second-largest job creating sector, and is rightly referred to as the backbone of the economy. It includes over 80% of the industries in the country, accounts for 31% of the GDP and 45% of the exports.
A successful merger of MSMEs and innovation can work wonders for the economy. For obvious reasons, MSMEs fall behind in terms of innovation when compared to large companies. However, innovations can help boost the productivity levels of MSMEs and nimble small businesses can even beat large companies. If MSMEs play to their strengths, optimize resources and seek additional support when it comes to innovation, significant growth can be achieved.
However, innovation does not mean reinventing the wheel. Innovation, regarding MSMEs, would also mean approaching every single process with a fresh perspective — manufacturing, supply chain, cost reduction, selling, marketing, and more. For this, there should be immense cooperation and coordination between different stakeholders, including the government and the society. Efficiency, quality, productivity, market share, competitive positioning, etc. could be indices to measure innovation.
The Ministry of MSME has various schemes to promote and support untapped creativity of individuals and to promote adoption of the latest technologies in manufacturing and knowledge-based innovative MSMEs or ventures. The Ministry also supports engagement with Technology Centres (TCs) that advise MSMEs in expanding the business by supporting them in design, strategy and execution.
Finding MSMEs that give importance to innovation, rewarding them, and sharing their success stories is one way to encourage more businesses to pay attention to the need for innovation and its benefits.
ETRise Top MSMEs Ranking that recognizes India’s top businesses who have excelled and set a benchmark for other businesses to follow, has a specific category dedicated to this. Under ‘India’s Top Innovative MSMEs’ category, ETRise Top MSMEs Ranking invites every Indian business that thinks and operates out of the box, and qualifies as a Micro, Small, or Medium Enterprise, as specified by the Ministry of MSME, Government of India, to nominate itself and undergo a rigorous jury evaluation process to try and win the ‘Indian Top Innovative MSMEs’ award. The other categories of participation are ‘India’s Top Performing MSMEs’, ‘India’s Fastest Growing MSMEs’, and ‘India’s Top Exporter MSMEs’.
Source: https://m.economictimes.com/small-biz/sme-sector/etrise-top-msmes-21-the-search-for-indias-most-innovative-msmes/articleshow/85828803.cms
