A special $30 million special package in the current scenario by the Cloud wing of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is being seen as a beneficial option for relatively small Indian enterprises.
Called the “Global SME Enablement Programme”, the multi-million dollar package offers to arm MSMEs with tech solutions like Cloud technology – aiming to support them to keep the basic functioning of their businesses smooth. In addition, the package also offers financial support of $300 and $500 to all new SME, as well as paying SME customers respectively.
Along with access to the package, Alex Li, general manager at Alibaba Cloud South Asia, appreciated the potential of Indian MSMEs.
"India has a vision to increase the contribution from its MSME's (micro, small and medium enterprises) to its National GDP to 50 percent and a large part of that growth will be possible in this day and age through empowering companies with technology”, the media quoted Li as saying.
While foreign companies like Amazon and Facebook have invested billions to empower Indian MSMEs this year, the Indian government is also expected to approve a relief package worth $2.6 billion (INR 20,000 million), which will be divided in two separate funds to help MSMEs kick-start their trade and economic activities.
One of India’s largest industry bodies – the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) – has advised the government to provide interest-free and collateral-free loans to MSME companies with a turnover of less than $65 million (INR 500 million) for up to 12 months, depending on the sector, to enable them to cover fixed costs, salaries, and other operational expenses.
On Thursday, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi pointed out during a video conference with other party members that small and medium businesses employ close to a million people in India, making up for a third of the GDP, and need urgent support.
The United Nations recently predicted that the global economy could go down by one percent in 2020 as part of the aftermath of the present the coronavirus situation, which has brought the world to a standstill. The UN has also warned that the recession could hit harder if limitations on economic activities last longer.
