“Madhya Pradesh Skill Development Mission – Creating Skills Ecosystem”
16 March 2011: 1000 Hrs: Hotel Noor-Us-Sabah Palace, Bhopal

On the occasion of annual day of CII Madhya Pradesh, IPER-CII presented a base report to the Government of Madhya Pradesh on “Madhya Pradesh Skills Development Mission – Creating Skills Ecosystem”. The report focussed on the industry demand and required steps needed to fulfil that demand. The program focussed on bridging the gap between the current education system and the demands set by the industry.

Dr. Amarjeet Singh Khalsa, Group Director, IPER, advocated the idea that industries should tell us the requirement of the skilled man power at the time of signing of MOU and by the time industry gets commissioned in the state, the various agencies responsible for the skill training should make the training modules and train the personnel which can be absorbed by the industries. He also focussed on the idea that industries should themselves provide skill training as per their requirements and for that, government should give them some incentives as well.

Shri Uttam Ganguly - Chairman CII Madhya Pradesh, Smt. Gouri Gupta - National Skill Development Corporation, Dr. A.K. Sharan - Professor, National Institute of Financial Management, Mr Manfred – Director, Private Sector Development (JIZ), Dr. Uma Ganesh – CEO, Global Talent Track, Shri Sanjay Singh – Principle (Government of Secretary) participated and presented their views in the event. The program was concluded by Shri Sandeep Naolekar – Vice Chairman CII Madhya Pradesh, as he thanked all the dignitaries present in the program.

“Slowdown and SMEs: The Way Ahead”

27 June, 2009: 1630 Hrs: Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal

The Strength

SME sector's contribution to India's economic growth is well established. The sector is the second largest manpower employer in India, next only to agriculture, and it accounts for 40% of gross industrial value addition and 44% of total manufacturing exports.

The sector has grown impressive over the past few years. Such significant contributions point to the sector's inherent capabilities. SMEs, either as providers of products and services to OEMs or to the after market, have made a significant contribution to Indian economy.

Indian SMEs have consistently depicted unique attributes of agility and adaptability to emerging technologies and innovation, robust individual initiatives and strong skill-sets, a high employment-orientation and competitive cost of production.

The Problem

Despite these strengths, the Indian SME is not insulated from the ongoing financial crisis and recessionary period. The sector has shown an overall decline in cash reserves and increased difficulty in finding working capital, further hampered by a sizing down of order books and piling up creditors.

This has worsened the scenario for SMEs, facing formidable problems even in the normal course, in capital raising, human resource skills, technology, succession planning and acquiring global competitiveness.

The current financial crisis has also made it difficult for SMEs to invest in latest technologies and enhance their production facilities or plan expansion. It is true that SMEs too face the same global, technological and infrastructure challenges that a large corporation does; however, they often tend to have greater resource, capital and skill constraints.

The Need

The need of the hour is to have a curative approach based on long-term perspective to overcome the current situation. The importance of strategic planning and risk management cannot be emphasised more than at present. Today, to sustain the competition, SMEs need to develop capability in other important areas of management. For example, product development, strategic planning, financial management, leadership and people. SMEs need to establish appropriate management framework, with a clear purpose to build these capabilities.

Against this backdrop, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Institute of Professional Education & Research (IPER)organized a Session on “Slowdown and SMEs: The Way Ahead” on 27th June 2009 at 1630 Hrs at Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal.