SMEStreet Decoding Budget 2023 Webinar Showcased Key Takeaways for MSMEs in union Budget 2023-24

This year, the activity was concluded on 15th Feb 2023, with a Webinar – SMEStreet Decoding Budget 2023. The webinar was also presented with the support from Ministry of MSME, Govt of India. Orgainzed by SMEStreet Foundation – MSME-focused Section-8 Organization with an objective to contribute in MSMEs’ Development through Knowledge sharing and Networking.

The participants of this year’s Decoding Budget activity included S Ravi, Ex-Chairman BSE and Director of Ravi Rajan & Co., Ajay Thakur, CEO, BSE-SME, CA Deepak Maheshwari, Co-Founder JindigiLive , Sandeep Mohindroo, Managing Director M1XChange and  Suhani Gambhir, Chief Customer Success, Presence360. The Panel expressed their observations on this year’s Union Budget with a positive transformative objective and called it an all-rounder budget with a long term vision for India’s Economic growth.

Dr. Faiz Askari, Founder and Cheif Editor of SMEStreet and Secretary General of SMEStreet Foundation moderated the event and presented SMEStreet’s entire Union Budget activity which was started in November end 2022 as a pre-budget recommendations, Budget expectations to Post Budget Analysis and a Quick Post Union  Budget Survey for understanding key takeaways for MSMEs.

The Union Budget 2023-24 was presented by Honourable Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1st 2023 at the Central Hall of Lok Sabha is considered to be a visionary Amrit Kaal Budget. This document gave a great direction to the vision of building India’s global leadership in years to come. This Budget was also designed and aligned with the Goal Setting of India’s Leadership under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision for India.

From target chase of 5 Trillion Dollar economy to India’s G 20 Presidency, the Budget 2023 envisioned some clear roadmap for India’s growth and have several takeaways for MSMEs of the country.

The MSME sector continues to be at the forefront of policymaking towards India’s economic growth. Well, commonly referred to as the backbone of the economy, we at SMEStreet consider MSMEs as the face of the Indian economy.

The Panel Discussion

In the Panel discussion, S Ravi, Ex-Chairman BSE and Director of Ravi Rajan & Co., mentioned that this year’s UNION Budget is designed keeping in mind some long term growth. “This Budget bought clarity towards achiving India’s economic growth and global leadership in years to come. UNion Budget 2023’s INfratsructure focus illustrated INdia’s commitment towards overall and holistic growth,” says Shri S Ravi.

Ajay Thakur, CEO, BSE-SME who has sent his message to SMEStreet have mentioned that through this Budget The hon’ble Finance MInisiter indicated that the Budget 2023  will give a great boost to MSMEs who wish to grow to next levels.

CA Deepak Maheshwari, Co-Founder JindigiLive, stated his perspective on key takeaways for Indian Startups. Mr Maheshwari commented, “Role of Startups are becoming extremely relevant and dynamic in today’s economic growth. Ease of Doing Business has also become very important aspect for policymaker since last few years. This year’s Budget gave great impetus on this aspect as well.”

Discussing the issue of Delayed Payment faced by MSMEs, Sandeep Mohindroo, Managing Director M1XChange said, “Delayed Payments are one of the major hurdle for MSMEs’ growth. A lot of efforts are made to tackle this problem. This year’s Union Budget gave more clarity on Govt’s commitment towards solving this problem of delayed payment for MSMEs. However, focus towards digital payments adoption in this Budget document motivates small businesses to further utilise the advantages of digital payments.”

Suhani Gambhir, Chief Customer Success, Presence360 highlighted the role of technology in bringing much needed positive transformation for MSMEs. Ms Suhani highlighted the importance of digital technologies for MSMEs, specially in achieving manpower efficiency. She also emphasized about Presence360.

Dr Faiz Askari, Founder and Chief Editor of SMEStreet and Secretary General of SMEStreet Foundation presented SMEStreet’s activity highlights on Union Budget 2023 and mentioned, “We reached out to MSMEs across verticals and geography and tried to understand their expectations from the Union Budget 2023-24.

And A post Budget activity we again approached MSMEs and tried to understand their key takeaways from the Budget. This entire activity lasted for over three months with major portion going into the pre budget action.

With this Decoding Budget 2023 Webinar we aim to further strengthen our commitment towards strengthenking the MSME Voice at the policydoor step. We are thankful to the distinguished panelists who were part of the activity and shared their expert opinions on the Budget 2023 with the perspective of MSMEs.”

SMEStreet Budget 2023 Activity

The entire Union Budget 2023-24 activity was anchored on SMEStreet.in/tag/Union-Budget-2023 . The Hashtag #BudgetWithSMEStreet also went actively discussed on Social Media.

The Key highlights of SMEStreet Post Budget 2023 Survey on MSMEs’ Takeaways from the Union Bduegt 2023-24 are as follows:

Credit Guarantee Enhancement Corporation: A new institution has been proposed to provide credit guarantee for MSMEs and enhance their access to credit.

1. Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS 3.0): The government has extended the ECLGS scheme to cover MSMEs affected by the second wave of COVID-19.

2. E-Market Linkage for MSMEs: The government has proposed to set up an e-market linkage for MSMEs to enable them to reach a wider market and increase their sales.

3. MSME facilitation centers: The government has proposed to set up MSME facilitation centers across the country to provide end-to-end support to MSMEs.

4. Technology Upgradation: The government has proposed to allocate funds for technology upgradation and modernization of MSMEs.