It is no secret that SMEs drive ecosystems. The same applies for India. There are nearly 48 million SMEs in the country who provide a variety of services or are engaged in the manufacture of intermediate and finished goods, collectively accounting for a sizeable share of India’s industrial output. While the sector employs 40% of India’s workforce, it contributes only about 17% to the country’s GDP, according to the Economic Survey conducted in the middle of 2013. One of the primary reasons cited for this below par performance has been the sector’s slow adoption of technology. The real challenge is to scale your business. Investing in technologies and tools such as an ERP, CRM or even cloud based offerings that promise cost efficiencies, is fairly expensive and a lack of scale can inhibit such an investment.
The Indian Financial Press published an article which states that the internet, to a large extent, can solve the problem of scale by creating an online outlet for goods and services of all kinds. The Indian e-commerce industry is by far the finest example of this. The e-commerce market has witnessed exponential growth since 2009 when it was worth about $2.5billion to reach $16billion by the end of 2013. Data from an ASSOCHAM report indicates that the same will reach a whopping $56 billion by 2023, making it 6.5 percent of the total retail market. This scale comes from the fact that there are around 200 million internet users in India, slated to grow to 500 million by 2015, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Internet penetration in turn is getting its scale from the country’s mobile revolution where the cellular phone is ubiquitous. But the more interesting fact is that for the whole year of 2013, the internet user base grew 42% to 213 million (from 150 million in 2012). Of the total user base, mobile internet users accounted for 130 million in 2013 (over 60%), a growth of about 92% from 68 million in 2012.
There is even more to look forward to when one looks at the expected growth; by June 2014, IAMAI forecasts that the internet user base will touch 243 million. The number of mobile internet users is expected to touch 185 million in the same timeframe accounting for a massive 76% of the internet user base in the country.
Shashank Mehrotra, General Manager & Business Head of BigRock, is of the opinion that as it stands, the Indian SME ecosystem is missing out on one of the biggest opportunities to further monetize its business and scale up i.e. getting on the internet. As Flipkart breached the $1 billion mark recently, it has already set its sights on the $20 billion target by 2020. Similarly Snapdeal expects to breach $1 billion in revenues in FY15. What is interesting to observe is that these are all businesses that have been established within the last decade or so with Snapdeal being only about 4 years old. The pace of growth is clearly scorching for internet businesses. The Indian SME needs to join the bandwagon quickly. A great way to start would be to focus on building an online presence. A 2013 Google-FICCI survey revealed that only 5% of Indian SMEs have a website despite the fact that web-enabled SMEs had 51% higher revenues, 49% more profit, and 7% larger customer bases than their offline-only brethren. In addition to a website, a branded email address also goes a long way in building credibility for an SME. It is natural for entrepreneurs with sophisticated websites and branded email, to be considered much savvier by potential customers. Integrating with a business listing service or signing up for an online advertising solution will help SMEs drive customer leads to their website and can help them scale their business overnight.
The author, Shashank Mehrotra, also opines that if SMEs are looking to grow their business he would strongly recommend that one should get an online presence as a first step, nurture it and allow it to create enough scale to warrant investments in additional technologies. These tools in turn will help to bring further efficiencies to your business and spur productivity.
Source: The Financial Express
BIIA would like to add the following comment: No argument, SMEs need to be technology sassy, however they also need to be information literate in order to communicate and to deal with prospects and customers effectively. In addition they need to be financially literate to manage cash flow and to avoid credit losses. Above all, SMEs need to be more transparent to be able to obtain access to much needed finance. Without accurate, reliable and timely information about SMEs there will be no access to credit.
