Mr.Bhalchandra Rane is the Chairman of the TMA- Federation of Industries India and Managing Director of UCP India- UCP Europe. In a Candid Interview with SME Venture, Mr. B.K. Rane deliberated about the association and status of SME Sector. Let’s have a glance at it.
- When did TMA get approval to rename as the TMA Federation of Industries? And Can you describe the history behind it?
During my chairmanship of TMA, I got to know that there was a misconception. The people were thinking that the association is only restricted to Thane, though our constitution was said that we can have a member from all over Maharashtra. But the scenario became very bad. Since Thane has no industries, this was not an active association. The name of the association was not giving a good impression among people. Then I have decided to totally amend our old constitution and have a new entity altogether. So in that time, I proposed to the managing committee and everyone supported me actively.
We became flexible in the membership also. And we started to have members from all over India. And we are interacting very closely with the PAN India association like CII, FICI.in September 2018 AGM, we requested to get ourself registered to be as a federation. We got approval to become a federation of industries in December 2018 from the ministry of corporate affairs. Now we have 7 subscribers, 3 directors, It is a regular public limited company under section 8, with a charter of pan India operations. That is the background of our federation of industries. Now we have started to get involved with associations out of state
- Why TMA Federation of Industries opt to engage in PAN India Operation?
The main reason behind the PAN India operation as we were already active In the national level and we were also interacting with the cabinet ministers at the center. When GST was to be launched, we gave wholehearted support for several meetings and seminars in our auditorium where all the ministers and officials come from the Indian Government. And we were given full support, inviting their members from other parts also. In that time, we represented GST related issues to ministry representatives like Mr. Jayant Sinha. We also met Mr. Piyush Goyal, who represented the problems. We were representing some of our members at the ministry level. So, as all these were happening we have decided that we should opt for PAN India Operation rater than restricting ourselves.
- For the growth of small scale industries, what are the schemes and activities you have been undertaken?
I have been in the corporate world before starting my own company. My own company itself is in an SME sector. I can see my colleagues also in small scale sector. We have to understand that small scale entrepreneur is different as they have very special personalities, they are daring people and very capable of handling day to day matters. SMEs have their unique techniques. But there is one particular area, where they always welcome specific support, that is business development. So I always concentrated to support Business Development. Through our association what we do is we mainly supporting our people in the business development aspects. But we are not neglecting other aspects like GST, excise so on. We also supported our members in LBT problems, which was suffered by thane industrialists. We brought down the LBT claims from one crore to 10 lakh. We brought all kind of expertise to reduce unwanted and unwarranted claims. Likewise, we have been invited all the seniors to meet our members understand their problems regarding excise issues. All these reforms accomplished by our Association. But a the same time our focus was also bee on business development, not only within India. We have also overseas activities, So we had evening time meeting with French, German, Belgium, Russian businesspeople. There were trade commissioners, council generals and businessmen were coming to have interaction with our businessmen. That is how we tried to improve the relationship joint ventures collaborations and all. We are also focusing to bring our members very close to the technological leaders of our country.
- What are your views on the role of MSMEs in the Prime Minister’s vision for Job creation?
MSMEs are going to play a very fundamental function in job creation. This year’s union finances has shown a first-class amount of commitment to facilitating MSMEs to grow to be job creators. The flagship scheme for employment generation of MSME Ministry- Prime Minister Employment Growth Programme (PMEGP) acquired an all-time high allocation of Rs.2327 crore. The allocation in the scheme has gone up by way of 117% over the last two years. This can generate self-employment opportunities via the establishment of about 88,000 micro-companies within the non-farm sector, using around 7 lakh people. This can facilitate a credit float of around Rs.10,000 crore to the micro sector.
However, the Finance Minister herself stated very obviously in her speech that entrepreneurs of India are getting considered as wealth creators for the nation.
- Today When India is targeting to become 5 trillion dollar economy, what contribution according to you should be coming from the MSME sector?
MSMEs are a particularly fundamental factor of the economic system. MSMEs no longer just create profits for his or her promoters but they make a contribution significantly in job production and productivity within the economy. Our govt’s policies, therefore, are focused and dedicated to enabling a constructive ecosystem for MSMEs to grow.
In these days, the contribution of MSMEs in country’s GDP is someplace around 29%, this figure will trade to 50% in close future and with that facet, Indian financial system will develop to the scale of 5 Trillion dollars. This aggressive goal can convey actual economic transformation.
- According to you, what are the industrial growth factors are important for establishing industries?
For the economic growth of India, Industry should develop in an efficient manner. So for the better growth of the industry, we need infrastructures like the best transportation system, electricity facilities, water supply, telecommunication facilities, and broadband, common effluent disposal facility, etc.