Moving towards transforming the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) into industrial giants in the coming years, the Punjab Government on Thursday signed the MoUs with two ecommerce portals — Amazon and Flipkart — to enable access for the MSMEs to new global markets.

Describing MSMEs as an important engine of Punjab’s industrial growth, the state’s Additional Chief Secretary (Industry and Invest Punjab) Vini Mahajan on Thursday cited various measures taken by the State government to strengthen the MSME sector in Punjab.

Mahajan, addressing a session on ‘Building partnerships for inclusive growth: MSMEs in the Global Value Chain’, referred to the ease of doing business promoted by the new industrial policy, subsidized power tariff for industry at Rs five per unit, incentives on electricity duty and GST, Online Land Ownership, Online Inspection system and easy access to finance.

To provide this ease to the MSMEs, the Government has partnered with HDFC Bank to provide loans to around 700 MSME beneficiaries, amounting to Rs 1,100 crore. Under their MoU, the Bank is offering special pricing for business loans to all industries in the state, she added.

She also listed the recent Cabinet decisions, including approval for Right to Business Act for MSMEs, amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act, etc, and the decision to allow Panchayats to partner the state’s industrial development through creation of industrial parks on shamlat (village common) land.

The state’s Industries and Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora also signed MoUs with key e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart to enable access to new markets for the Punjab-based MSMEs.

He said that the Government had signed the MoU with Amazon to enable B2B linkages with key international markets, including US, Canada, and key markets in Europe, while, with Flipkart, the Government had signed the MoU to facilitate access for MSMEs to new domestic markets, as well as Flipkart Samarth, to give impetus to the growth of handloom weavers and small enterprises in the State.

During the MSME session, the panelists urged the Government to develop more Research and Development Centres in the State to further improve the quality of products and keep the technologically up to date.

HERO GROUP, BCU JOIN HANDS TO SET UP INNOVATION SCHOOL AT LUDHIANA

Hero Group and the Birmingham City University has decided to join hands to establish Munjal BCU School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MBSI) at Ludhiana to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the state.

Hero Enterprises Limited chairman and Lala Bahadur Chand Munjal Foundation chairman Sunil Kant Munjal announced that the Hero Group and BCU are collaborating to establish the MBSI at Ludhiana and it would cater to the needs of the business industrial sector of the State.

Punjab is already witnessing a brain drain with many students seeking to immigrate to other countries in search of better opportunities. Students appear reluctant to pursue higher education in Punjab because of the perception that the quality of training and education on offer isn’t quite up to the standards expected of an industrialized state. “The MBSI could emerge as a game changer with the School aiming to re-design the higher education offering in a manner that it leads to more meaningful student outcomes,” he said.

‘DEVELOP MOHALI AS WORLD’S FIRST STARTUP HUB’

Experts and industrialists mooted to develop Mohali as the world’s first startup valley, inviting talent and venture capital from all over the world.

The demand was raised during the 90-minute session dedicated to the Startup ecosystem wherein one of the panelists also suggested to create a Shivalik Valley for startups in Mohali on the lines of Silicon Valley in Bengaluru.

The panel members, representing stakeholders of the Startup ecosystem, included Padmaja Ruparel, Co-Founder at Indian Angel Network and Founding Partner IAN Fund, Nandu Nandkishore, Professor at Indian Business School and Former EVP and Head of Asia, Africa and Oceania at Nestlé SA, Switzerland, Akshay Sangwan, Executive Director, Sonalika Industries, Kunal Upadhyay, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Bharat Fund and Taranjeet Bhamra, Founder, AgNext Technologies.

The panelists stressed upon the need for interdisciplinary joint research among various prestigious institutes of the region, to be supported by the government, to make Punjab intellectually rich and create intellectually property.