Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Ministry of MSME, Government of India organized the “Global SME Business Summit 2015” on 7th – 8th December 2015 at the India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi. Faculty members Ms. Ashu Khurana, Ms. Parul Bansal, Ms. Manjari Saxena, Ms. Tanushree Bhattacharjee and Ms. Sakshi Pahuja from Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the Summit.

The objective of the summit was to provide a platform for global SMEs to connect for prospects of mutual benefits and explore emerging markets while ensuring their successful integration with the Make in India initiative which aims at propelling the growth of the Indian manufacturing sector. This summit worked towards creating a strong platform for key decision makers, business leaders and multilateral forums, global funding agencies to address issues common to SMEs and identify cross-border partnership opportunities.

The session was attended by prominent entrepreneurs of China and India who are investing in both the nations to enhance business opportunities and making the life’s of common masses better. The opening remarks were given by Mr. Ligi George (Co-Chair, CII FFC Governing Council, CII National SME Council). He welcomed the dignitaries and attendees and talked about the potential that Indian market offers to the Chinese businessmen. He also mentioned that being neighbors, India and China can greatly benefit from each other in terms of technology and trade. Further he said that the Indian SMEs are playing an extremely prominent role in boosting the nation’s GDP, assisting the industrialization of rural are as and generating employment. The same goes for China where SMEs have realized swift and sustainable growth over the past two decades and contribute to around 80% of the overall employment.

Mr. Gao Huabing, Secretary General, The World Association of China Elite expressed his gratitude towards CII for the meet and he represented 27 enterprises of China and introduced some of them to the attendees. India and China share many commonalities and are ranked among key emerging market economies of the world today. He discussed about the work of The World Association of China Elite and its plan for investments in India. He said that even though there are cultural differences between India & China but they have a lot in common India is a potential market and Chinese traders have huge interest in it and vice versa. He talked about the need for building mutual trust and working together for the betterment of the people of both nations. Supply of goods and services for a large Chinese population with an increasing purchasing power adds to the opportunities for India. While Indian MSMEs can gain from China’s strong presence in the manufacturing sector, China can gain from India’s strong presence in the services sector.

Mr. Bhushan Patil, Director, Global Business Development talked about the role of internet & technology in spreading the businesses and making them cross the boundaries of nations. He gave the example of Alibaba Group Holding Limited which is a Chinese e-commerce company that provides consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals. It also provides electronic payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services. The group began in 1999 when Jack Ma founded the website Alibaba.com, a business-to-business portal to connect Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. He also talked about the India trade dynamics, India-China trade relations which can be facilitated by building the trade corridors and new projects in India such as the SMILE Project, the Alibaba Trade Facilitation Centre. He then introduced the success story of a manufacturer via Alibaba platform.

Mr. Jiang Baoquan, Chairman, Nanjing Gold Group appreciated the Make in India missionand said that the growth ofSMEs will support the common people in both the nations. He mentioned that it is fitting that our strategic trade and bilateral relations reflect our common interests and advantages and there is huge potential for gold industry, handicraft industry, packaging industry, services & hotel industry and product manufacturing in both nations. Collaboration between Indian and Chinese SMEs will guide in opportunities for cementing cross-border partnerships for R&D, knowledge sharing, innovation and commercialization of breakthrough technologies and trade and bilateral relations through SME partnerships.

A Case Study

Mr. Niraj Choksi, DVN Traders is a gold jewelry manufacturer and supplier who has 7 factories and 3800 workers. He explained how he benefitted in getting orders from abroad via Alibab.com. He mentioned that the world is changing and internet is a great medium for the traders to expand their business and reach the global market. He shared how he started to get business enquiries on Alibaba.com which subsequently led him receive big orders and reached the level he is on today.

These sessions were followed by a questionnaire where several businessmen and entrepreneurs discussed about the opportunities of investing in China and India. The concluding remarks were given by Mr. Ashok Saigal, Chair, Ease of Doing Business in MSMEs, CII National SME Council. Overall the session was very interactive and informative.