MSMEs have traditionally formed the backbone of the Indian economy, contributing to about 30 percent of India’s GDP. The North-East states are home to over 74,000 MSMEs from across Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. There is a need to incentivize these MSMEs to digitize and build digital infrastructure, enabling a more inclusive growth.
E-commerce in India plays a vital role in generating jobs and employment across industries, accounting for $850 billion in revenues, employing 50 million people, and connecting 30 million SMB to consumers. E-commerce can provide a global platform to the sellers in the region, widening the customer bases across India and around the world, connecting remote areas and enabling sellers to sell locally made products intrinsic to the North-East heritage. The innovations in logistics and delivery services brought about by the e-commerce sector can enable MSMEs in the region to build successful enterprises by leveraging the existing supply chain, logistics infrastructure, and exports market.
India SME Forum (ISF) organized a media briefing on ‘Enabling MSMEs from the North-Eastern States of India in the National Business Mainstream’. Among the speakers there were Mr. Himanga Dip Das, Additional Director, Industries and Commerce, Govt. of Assam, Mr. Tali Longchar, Joint Director, Govt. of Nagaland, Goli Angu, Deputy Director, Industries, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr. Vinod Kumar, President, India SME Forum, Shri Mitrabhanu Choudhary, Director, Ernst and Young.
Various sellers including Ms. Rita Tage, Founder, Nara Aaba, Dr. Shweta Lanke Kane, Director, Confederation of Resource Development for Sustainability – North East India, and Mr. Dharneet Sharma, Owner, Marketing Plus, highlighted the need to have government initiatives and policies that encourage the growth of e-commerce in the Indian economy, enabling them to expand sales.
