Bengaluru, Mar 15 (KNN) FISME, the leading federation of Indian MSMEs, recently organised a meeting of its ‘MSME Defence Suppliers’ Group’ in Bangalore.

With the launching of the ‘Make in India’ mission by Manohar Parikkar, the till recent Defence Minister, the multibillion dollar defence procurement market was opened to Indian Industry, including MSMEs.

To make an early start, FISME formed the ‘MSME Defence Suppliers’ Group’ (MDSG) in 2015 which was launched at a National Seminar on Opportunities in defence procurement for MSMEs’ by the Defence Minister.

Being a hub of precision engineering and software development, Bangalore is already a hotspot for defence suppliers, with a significant share of MSMEs.

Over the last few decades, the Indian MSMEs have emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy and with the “Make in India” programme in place it aims at shifting the focus away from the services sector and convert the nation into a manufacturing hub.

The objective of the MDSG is to link the existing and aspiring suppliers with the high value added defence capital acquisition market.

The particular focus of FISME is to link MSMEs with the lucrative  ‘Make’ I and II initiative of the defence ministry under which projects uptoRs. 25 crore are reserved for MSMEs with Government bearing the development costs.

At the launching session in Bangalore, Deba Mohanty, Advisor  to MDSG talked about the opportunities for MSMEs in the trillion rupee defence market and also addressed the problems faced by the MSMEs.

The meeting was chaired by C S Prakash, Managing Director, Pushpak Products Pvt Ltd. Bangalore who also happens to be the chairman of the MSME Defence Supplier Group.

Pushpak   mentioned to the participants about his own experience in the defence and other strategic equipment market and the opportunities ans well as challenges before the suppliers.

Mohanty also mentioned about his close interaction with defence PSU and huge opportunity lying for MSMEs to supply these PSUs.

The participants were elated on FISME’s initiatives and urged FISME to handhold for their registration as suppliers with the DPSUs and the Ordinance factories.

While many efforts are being put by the government to give maximum opportunities to the Indian MSMEs to be able to supply to the big budgeted Defence market, reality is that the MSMEs still find it really hard to break into.

During the meeting, Ravi Kumar, ZGM, NSIC who was also present for the programme valued FISME’s effort in this regard and further enlightened upon NSIC role to support the cause. (KNN/ DB)