The economic meltdown has had a varying impact across emerging economies. During current fiscal, GDP forecast for the BRIC nations have been revised downwards by 1.5% for India, 2.5% for China while Brazil and Russia slumped into recession from the fourth quarter of 2008. Amongst BRIC, growth is expected to ebb the least in India in foreseeable future. Higher degree of insulation of the Indian economy can be attributed to multiple factors of which the diversity of small and medium enterprises sector is one.
The SME sector is often credited for granting national economies flexibility, diversity, and the strength to weather economic downturns. Underlying the differential impact of the crisis on BRIC nations is varying degree of resilience of these economies. The highly heterogeneous Indian SME sector, producing more than 8000 odd items, contributes 40% of the industrial output and account for more than 80% of companies. Next to agriculture, they are the biggest employers. One third of SME production caters to export market. This is in sharp contrast to Brazil, Russia and China which has a less diversified SME sector with more than 65% of their production catering to export markets. Incidental to global meltdown, factors like low export orientation, high import substitution and diversification of Indian SMEs have contributed to restraining the downward spiral during this crisis.
This discernable edge of the Indian SME sector is mainly due to more than five decades of concerted governmental initiatives that is not blinkered by the export market. And the initiatives to further strengthen them continue. The decision to set up a dedicated bourse for SMEs was made late last year. This will facilitate access to capital markets for those small units which do not currently qualify the stringent norms of stock exchanges. Apart from credit needs, it will also fillip adherence to corporate governance norms, a matter receiving less attention from small family owned enterprises. While this will increase attractiveness of the Indian SME sector to private equity investors, increased liquidity brings with it the challenge to control volatility in foreign investment - a lesson underscored by this crisis.
Across BRIC countries, the common credit issues faced by SMEs include high risk perception owing to information asymmetry, non-availability of adequate capital for investment and difficulties in accessing capital markets. In India, SME finance is primarily routed through public and private sector banks and the non banking financial companies (NBFCs). Categorisation of SME loan as 'priority sector lending' has mandated banks to maintain a certain percentage of their portfolio for SMEs. This, coupled with government guarantee schemes, has enhanced access to credit at reduced cost of funds. At the same time, concerns of information asymmetry have been addressed by setting up specialised credit rating agencies like SME Rating Agency of India (SMERA). In comparison, public sector banks in China prefer large state owned enterprises to SMEs owing to implicit government guarantees enjoyed by the former. Private sector banks, have until recently shied away from SMEs offering limited services at unreasonable price. Bulk of financing needs in China or Brazil even today is either met by attracting foreign investment or from informal sources like family, money lenders, etc. Lately, with skeptical foreign investors, the SME juggernaut has been quick to sap growth in both China and Brazil.
The latest Indian policy to redraw the contours of the cluster development program by developing model clusters across the country is set to integrate efforts across the value chain to achieve optimum results at industry level. Yet emergence of these 600 odd clusters (and ten times as much unofficially) has not been natural to the world's largest democracy. Purposeful governmental intervention with the idea of encouraging spontaneity in inter-firm networking in areas like logistics and marketing were done to facilitate collective learning and reduce transaction cost for financiers. Subcontracting between SMEs within clusters has also aided specialization and innovation. China's SME development policy is distinct to that of Brazil or India. It's decision to establish industrial parks though effective in reaping benefits of scale have had limited success in integrating and optimizing the SME value chain.
Never ignore the important for the urgent at a time when billions of taxpayers' money are being used to bail out giant corporations across globe, as a pointer to the future, SMEs merit to be fostered using every available lever. Governments across countries need to coordinate more to up their ante on offering ideological climate for SMEs to promote equitable growth both within and between nations.
The SME sector is often credited for granting national economies flexibility, diversity, and the strength to weather economic downturns. Underlying the differential impact of the crisis on BRIC nations is varying degree of resilience of these economies. The highly heterogeneous Indian SME sector, producing more than 8000 odd items, contributes 40% of the industrial output and account for more than 80% of companies. Next to agriculture, they are the biggest employers. One third of SME production caters to export market. This is in sharp contrast to Brazil, Russia and China which has a less diversified SME sector with more than 65% of their production catering to export markets. Incidental to global meltdown, factors like low export orientation, high import substitution and diversification of Indian SMEs have contributed to restraining the downward spiral during this crisis.
This discernable edge of the Indian SME sector is mainly due to more than five decades of concerted governmental initiatives that is not blinkered by the export market. And the initiatives to further strengthen them continue. The decision to set up a dedicated bourse for SMEs was made late last year. This will facilitate access to capital markets for those small units which do not currently qualify the stringent norms of stock exchanges. Apart from credit needs, it will also fillip adherence to corporate governance norms, a matter receiving less attention from small family owned enterprises. While this will increase attractiveness of the Indian SME sector to private equity investors, increased liquidity brings with it the challenge to control volatility in foreign investment - a lesson underscored by this crisis.
Across BRIC countries, the common credit issues faced by SMEs include high risk perception owing to information asymmetry, non-availability of adequate capital for investment and difficulties in accessing capital markets. In India, SME finance is primarily routed through public and private sector banks and the non banking financial companies (NBFCs). Categorisation of SME loan as 'priority sector lending' has mandated banks to maintain a certain percentage of their portfolio for SMEs. This, coupled with government guarantee schemes, has enhanced access to credit at reduced cost of funds. At the same time, concerns of information asymmetry have been addressed by setting up specialised credit rating agencies like SME Rating Agency of India (SMERA). In comparison, public sector banks in China prefer large state owned enterprises to SMEs owing to implicit government guarantees enjoyed by the former. Private sector banks, have until recently shied away from SMEs offering limited services at unreasonable price. Bulk of financing needs in China or Brazil even today is either met by attracting foreign investment or from informal sources like family, money lenders, etc. Lately, with skeptical foreign investors, the SME juggernaut has been quick to sap growth in both China and Brazil.
The latest Indian policy to redraw the contours of the cluster development program by developing model clusters across the country is set to integrate efforts across the value chain to achieve optimum results at industry level. Yet emergence of these 600 odd clusters (and ten times as much unofficially) has not been natural to the world's largest democracy. Purposeful governmental intervention with the idea of encouraging spontaneity in inter-firm networking in areas like logistics and marketing were done to facilitate collective learning and reduce transaction cost for financiers. Subcontracting between SMEs within clusters has also aided specialization and innovation. China's SME development policy is distinct to that of Brazil or India. It's decision to establish industrial parks though effective in reaping benefits of scale have had limited success in integrating and optimizing the SME value chain.
Never ignore the important for the urgent at a time when billions of taxpayers' money are being used to bail out giant corporations across globe, as a pointer to the future, SMEs merit to be fostered using every available lever. Governments across countries need to coordinate more to up their ante on offering ideological climate for SMEs to promote equitable growth both within and between nations.
0 comments
Post a Comment