7th Shri Ram Sahai Memorial Lecture on “Rebooting Stressed Economy: Leveraging Stimulus Package for MSMEs” June 6, 2020

Access to collateral free credit, equity infusion through “funds of funds”, and subordinate debt for stressed MSME in the recently announced stimulus package, if leveraged effectively, can help MSME to not only to reboot themselves from the COVID-19 crisis, but will also facilitate them to scale up their operations to be globally competitive said Sh. Arun Kumar Panda, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, MSME, Government of India and the architect of the stimulus package while speaking at 7th Shri Ram Sahai Memorial Lecture on “Rebooting Stressed Economy: Leveraging Stimulus Package for MSMEs” organized by Indian Institute of Public Administration, J&K Regional Branch (IIPA JKRB). While explaining the contours of the stimulus package, he said that the decisions taken by Central Government to support MSMEs, are historic in nature and he urged upon the stakeholders to reduce their overdependence upon debt by leveraging Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion scheme which will give them access to the funds of venture capital firms and will enable competitive MSMEs to list on stock exchanges. According to him, technology will be a great differentiator and access to technology will be the key to become globally competitive. He also informed that, the reforms in procurement policy can help local manufacturers to be competitive. He called upon all the stakeholders to adopt the TReDS platform, be vocal on MSME Samadhan Portal and activate the MSME Facilitation Council at the UT level. Mr. Panda outlined the role to be played by the banks, Industrial associations and the state governments in the implementation and facilitation of the package. Mr. Arun Gandotra, (Executive President Credit), J&K Bank in his address discussed the highlights of the stimulus package from the bankers’ perspective. He said that J&K Bank being the lead bank in UT of J&K will play a proactive role by facilitating all the MSME’s with access to credit as outlined in the guidelines of the stimulus package. Sh. S. N Tripathi (IAS), Director IIPA New Delhi, while addressing the stakeholders said that the 360 degree reforms initiated by Central Government to support MSME, should receive adequate support by the state governments and the bankers, by creating an environment of mutual trust. He laid emphasis on creating awareness level at the Cluster level, training and development of MSME in order to harness their innovative capacities. Sh. B.R Sharma, IAS (Retd), Chairman, PSC and Chairman, IIPA, JKRB in his presidential address opined that resilience of MSMEs is important in India, but considering the region of J&K, there are some region specific issues, which need to be considered while implementing the package. Earlier, Sh. K.B Jandial, Director, Seminars, IIPA JKRB paid rich tributes to Sh. Ram Sahai and recollected his immense contribution to the growth of IIPA in J&K and the region in totality. Prof. Alka Sharma, Hony Secretary IIPA J&K Regional Branch formally welcomed the audience, introduced the speakers and set the platform for the lecture. Sh. Rahul Sahai , Chairman Sahai Group Of Companies , Past Chairman of CII, Co- Chairman of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Jammu) and Chairman of Transport Nagar Association moderated the discussion round and also presented the formal vote of thanks. He said that the resilience of human beings can never be underestimated and was confident that MSME of J&K will come back strongly. Dr. Anil Gupta, Joint Secretary IIPA J&K Regional Branch coordinated the webinar. It is pertinent to mention that IIPA, JKRB today organizes Sh. Ram Sahai Memorial Lecture every year in the memory of Late Shri Ram Sahai, who was one of the founding members of the Regional Branch and a prominent industrialist of J&K. The virtual webinar was attended by over 125 people from industry, trade, civil society, academicians and members of IIPA including Dr. Ashok Bhan, IPS (Retd), Sh Kuldeep Khoda, IPS (Retd), Er. J B S Johar, Sh. Mushtaq Chayya, Sh A M Watali, IPS (Retd), Sh. Vikrant Kuthiala, Sh Arun Kumar Gupta, Sh Sudhir Chandra, Sh Sanjay Bansal, Sh Lalit Mahajan, Sh Annil Suri, Sh. Neeraj Anand, Sh. Rakesh Wazir, Sh Shivang Satya Gupta and other prominent citizens of the UT.