Shri. Saurabh Patel, took the dais at the inaugural address of the second series of the Financing SME conference at Ahmedabad and kept the audience spell bound as he delved into a plethora of topics and issues which the conference aimed to cover over the coming weeks.

After a brief introduction on how the progress of the Vibrant Gujarat summit had boosted the image of Gujarat as the perfect business hub and made the business acumen of its people known world over, he stressed that it was necessary for policies to be made for increasing production and employment, more so when over 40% of the country's production and employment came from the SME sector.

He then touched upon certain other issues that the SME sector faced in Gujarat. Starting with how finances affect the SME sector, he implied that the Govt. was pressing banks to give special preferences to SME and other cottage run industries while providing loans, and in ensuring the norms laid down by the RBI regarding loans were strictly adhered to. This would also ensure steady employment and sectoral production, due to a more widespread distribution of money amongst the populace. Further, stating that the Govt. was taking up the issue of personal guarantees that bankers demanded from young entrepreneurs in the SME sector.

The second issue he looked into was the competitiveness within the sector. He stressed on the need for SME's to start adopting better and more innovative technology as well as embracing information technology.

He next focused on the need for SME's to start adhering to the regulatory environmental norms laid down by the government, especially pharmaceutical and chemical units that were heavily dependent on fossil fuels. He also disclosed the Govt.'s intention to come up with 2 policies regarding manufacturing goods and textiles to provide an impetus to those sectors.

Another issue that was looked into was the acquisition of land and the creation of private industrial parks where SME units could be set up. This would ensure the continuous need for skilled labor, thus putting the Govt. Employment Centers and Centers for Excellence to good use, and providing a steady flow employment to the people of Gujarat.

The minister also voiced his concerns about a lack of participation regarding the General Sales Tax (GST) bill, and urged the SME sector to play a more proactive role in representing and defining the draft; which, when implemented would decide the tax exemptions for these industries.

Wrapping up, he appreciated how the SME sector had made Gujarat the manufacturing hub of the country and hoped that the discussions generated in the conference would throw some light on sorting the financial issues faced by the sector at large.