Speaker: Mr. Duke Ghosh, Doctoral Level SYLFF Fellow

Topic: “Is Small Sustainable?”

Session Coordinator: Mr. Partha Basu, Vice President (Corporate Banking), UTI Bank Limited

Mr. Duke Ghosh focused on the relevance of small and medium enterprises in the developing economy and discussed the reasons causing the high rate of morbidity of such firms in India. In this regard he highlighted that untimely and inadequate financial assistance provided by the banks and the organized financial market is one of the key reasons for such morbidity. Mr. Abhijit Mukherjee, a Small Entrepreneur shared his experience with the audience. Mr. Mukherjee cited how inadequate finance can lead to stunted growth of the SMEs.

Mr. S. Prasad, a banker, deliberated on why the SMEs are perceived as risky investments by the banks and other financial institutions. Mr. Partha Basu, brought out issues that cause inefficiency in the SMEs. He also mentioned about the changes that are required in the legal infrastructure in India for promoting SME Development.