TANSTIA (Tamilnadu Small and Tiny Industries Association) , in the days ahead, is focusing on preparing their members to prepare themselves for the digital growth through e-commerce.
In an exclusive chat for SMEVenture, C.K Mohan, General Secretary of the association, said the next generation new-age entrepreneurs are coming up in big way and the existing entrepreneurs should adopt to new technologies. TANSTIA is a consortium body of all the small and medium association across the state. The association represents all the industries ranging from engineering, manufacturing, textiles and more. Some of the key initiatives of the association includes educating the members towards the latest trends in the market and discuss with the policy makers, the pain points of the small and medium business in the state.
Listing the top three challenges of the association members, Mohan said, “Availability of finance, payment delays (especially from the PSU) and 28% GST for B2B manufacturing of ancillaries are the key issues every SME in Tamil Nadu is facing.” According to him, even though there are plenty of challenges faced by them, the top challenge for them stands at finance management. “Second is the payment delays across industries, public service units (PSU) to be specific. The government should also think on the aspects like 28% GST for job-works in second-level contracts becoming another issue for the SMEs.
With Two Thousand Five Hundred direct members, the association has forums in every district of Tamil Nadu. That way the association has 1 lakh members being part of the forum directly or indirectly.
Expectations and days ahead:
Listing the expectations from both the state and central government, the association expects them call them for key policies decision including the pre-budget meetings. “The MSME ministry should take some initiatives to listen the voice of everyone and not select 100 members. We hope the MSME ministry will take the concerns of the automobile industry ancillaries and component suppliers.”, Mohan said and further added that Chennai is wholly dependent on the automobile industry and the government should consider the issues of the SMEs dependent on big automobile companies.
Speaking about the days ahead, Mohan feels there might be a tough time ahead for the automobile industry ahead of the raise in the electric cars. “It is the high-time our industries prepare themselves and change according to the new trends. Also, the new age gen-y people who enter the business have different mindset altogether and the existing generation should plan for that.
Asked why the members are not getting into aggressive exports, he said, “Except the manufacturing and commodities (like textiles, knot wears) not all the members are very particular of getting into the export business. In fact, it is not our members are not capable. While the members are supplying for the companies in Chennai who export the cars, why not they export directly.
It is almost the same safety norms, testing and certification levels across the globe.”, Mohan avers. “If our members can supply for the vehicles manufactured in Chennai to ride in global roads, what stops them getting into the direct export of their products directly to the companies outside India?”, he concluded. The association is conducting regular activities and helping the members get into export and in fact, had tied up with an institution that helps the organizations go global.
Speaking about the days ahead, Mohan says the new avenues like smart cities and other investments are creating new opportunities for the SMEs here. Also, according to Mohan, their top priority this year is to make their members go digital. “E-Commerce is one where most of our members need to be educated. Most of the members are not digital-savvy and our intention is to make our members adopt to e-commerce mechanism both in B2B and B2C sales.”, he concluded.