Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan: What It Means For SMEs To Become Self-Reliant?

The global pandemic, followed by a nationwide lockdown, has brought small and medium-sized businesses to a standstill. Even though MSMEs have been significantly contributing towards India’s GDP and employment growth rate, they are suffering a great deal due to the government’s preventive measures to fight with the novel coronavirus.

So, to bring the sector back to where it was, the government recently announced a campaign called Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (ANBA) and brought MSMEs under its scope.

How Can Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (ANBA) Save The MSMEs?

Under Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (ANBA), the government will offer INR 3 Lakh Cr as security free programmed credit to MSMEs with outstanding loans of INR 25 Cr or yearly turnover of INR 100 Cr. An extra measure of INR 20K Cr has additionally been reserved to be utilized for small and medium-sized businesses.

This is going to profit a lot of businesses, including the automobile industry as most auto part creators are a part of this sector. Other than this, the government has likewise limited the difference between manufacturing and service businesses and has broadened the extent of small, medium, and large-scale businesses.

Each benefit under the ANBA is going to help Indian manufacturers continue business and sustain their logistics supply chain. Besides, this will likewise assist organizations with raising their self-reliance by requiring less from other countries.

The government has additionally reported a few measures to increase the flow of money in the market, equity infusion of INR 50K in the market, and a 25% decrease in taxes until March 2021. In times like these, where the simple survival of the MSME segment is in question, ANBA means to address the necessities of these businesses and gives a direction for their long run manageability and productivity.

How To Survive In The New Atmanirbhar India?

Contactless Delivery

The coronavirus outbreak has made social distancing a serious pre-requisite of continuing business operations; making contactless delivery of products the new normal. Since the lockdown, cash-on-delivery orders have gone down across industries and have been replaced by online transactions or virtual payment applications (such as credit cards and UPI transactions). This could give a boost to domestic financial-tech companies offering several payment solutions customized as per the emerging needs.

With more buyers moving towards online shopping for their essential needs, last-mile delivery serviceswould need to step up to provide better delivery performance. Some of the known logistics solution providers such as Pickrr are now using OTP for delivery confirmations and cancellations while others are using GPS to track delivery personnel’s location. Newer technologies such as smart proximity check & authentication might be the answer to an age-old problem of fake comments by ground staff.

Supply Chain Logistics

Indian is a known net importer, implying that its imports exceed its exports. While India’s local logistics network is quite strong, to substitute its primary reliance on foreign countries, tech-abundant Indian aggregators must come together to ensure a faster and wider reach. This could be done when the self-reliant logistics platforms such as Pickrr and Shiprocket take charge and virtually consolidate local logistics market-players to bring them under one roof.

This will empower the domestic companies; increase the demand within the home market; encourage mass-scale employment, and eventually lead to economies of scale. It will also open investments opportunities for adaptable and technology-enabled Indian logistics companies.

The idea behind Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (ANBA) is to make SMEs more capable and competent, letting them take charge of innovations for which they were conventionally dependent on MNCs. To facilitate smooth operations within their limited size and lean operations, logistics partners will play a great role in providing nationwide serviceability and technical innovation that could lessen their manpower dependency.