Industrial Products Finder (IPF) recognises the fastest growing SMEs from manufacturing sector and firms that meet the standards of ‘Product Excellence’. This year’s awards received thumbs up from more than 200 who’s who of the industry who were present for the function where 15 SMEs from across India were honoured for their performance.

 

Industrial Products Finder (IPF), India’s largest circulated industrial magazine for last 47 years and published by ASAPP Info Global Group, presented its 3rd IPF Industrial Excellence Awards on December 13, 2018 at NSE, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai. IPF Industrial Excellence Awards 2018 was held in the grand presence of Chief Guest Ajit B Chavan, Secretary, Textile Committee, Ministry of Textiles; Harshbeena Zaveri, Vice Chairperson & Managing Director, NRB Bearing Ltd; Bhavesh Thakkar, Associate Partner - Tax & Regulatory, Ernst & Young India; and Rachana Bhusari, VP - SME, National Stock Exchange (NSE). 

 

In presence of more than 200 who’s who of the industry, 15 SMEs from across India received the awards. The awards were presented to the fastest growing manufacturing companies in SME sector and products that meet the standards of ‘Product Excellence’. The winners were selected by a jury panel comprising eminent personalities from the industry and engineering institute. 

 

A white paper on “How MSMEs can enhance their credit worthiness” and an 'All India Textile Directory (AITD)' were also unveiled during the function. While ECGC Ltd (Formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd) was the Gold Partner for the event, Bohmen Industries was the Silver Partner. Plastics Machinery Manufacturers Association of India (PMMAI) and Indian Textile Accessories & Machinery Manufacturers Association (ITAMMA) were the supporting partners.

 

An ideal platform

 

Speaking on the occasion, Ajit B Chavan said, “There are a lot of policies in place that can be availed by SMEs. However, due to lack knowledge, majority of SMEs are unable to take advantage of these policies. One of the challenges of government organisations is lack of touch points to interact with SMEs. Occasions like this (IPF Awards) offer an ideal platform for the policy makers and industry to interact and help create awareness about the government initiatives.”

 

Congratulating the winners, Guest of Honour, Harshbeena Zaveri said, “About 45 per cent of manufacturing output comes from the SME sector, which accounts for 40 per cent of the workforce. It is the most vibrant sector in India that ensures regional balance because many of them are located in the rural areas. The unique features of this sector are unity of direction, unity of command, simplicity, quick decision making, flexibility, and care for the customers, suppliers and workforce. Business continuity, succession planning, access to funds, etc are some of the key challenges before SMEs. Industry and government need to come together to create an environment in which SMEs can succeed.”

 

Highlighting the significance of the awards, Pratap Padode, Founder & President, Foundation of Infrastructure Research Studies Training (FIRST), informed, “The SME sector plays a critical role in the country’s economic growth by creating job in large numbers and displaying their entrepreneurial skills. However, the SME sector continues to struggle due to challenges such as lack of access to credit, low adoption of new technology and cumbersome regulatory practices. In spite of such trying circumstances, some SMEs perform exceedingly well in terms of profitability and revenue growth. Through IPF Industrial Excellence Awards, we are honouring such outliers and their achievements, and encourage them to raise their performance bar higher.”

 

Rachana Bhusari, Vice President - SME, NSE (the Exchange Partner for this year’s IPF Industrial Excellence Awards), said, “It’s the need of the hour to recognise the work done by SMEs, who are the backbone of our economy. Lack of access to funding has been one of the major challenges that has been plaguing the growth of this sector. 

 

Entrepreneurs can list their firm on NSE, come up with an IPO, raise funds from the financial market, and grow much faster than what they have envisaged. Once listed, the banks, which were apprehensive of giving funds, will give better terms of negotiation. About 190 companies have raised more than Rs 3,000 crore through this platform.”

 

In his Keynote Address, Bhavesh Thakkar, Associate Partner - Tax and Regulatory, Ernst and Young LLP said, about 34 per cent of the MSMEs are registered under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006, and the percentage in the service industry is worse, only 5 per cent. 

 

“There are some fiscal incentives available, mostly in the manufacturing sector. You can get at least 50-60 per cent of your project cost back as a subsidy from the state government. However, to avail these incentives, SMEs have to be registered under the MSMED Act. There are other benefits as well. The Act binds the OEMs to make payment to the SMEs within 30 days on the purchases made from the SMEs.”

 

During the event, IPF SHOWTIME was unveiled which profiled all the winners of the 3rd IPF Industrial Excellence Awards and their achievements showcasing their contribution to India’s industrial success story.

 

Discussion Forum 

 

A CEO Roundtable, titled “Winning Strategies for SMEs”, was also held during the event which discussed challenges before the SME sector and strategies needed to be adopted by SMEs to become competitive and emerge winner. 

 

According to Professor Ashok Pundir, Professor of Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing Systems at NITIE (National Institute of Industrial Engineering), MSMEs are a large part of the economy now. “In India, there is no dearth of innovation. The only thing is they need to be supported commercially,” he added.

 

The price advantage that SMEs has erodes after a time and then they have to optimise the cost and provide better features in terms of the product, delivery and after sale service. SMEs can leverage on technology to achieve this objective. “Small industries have a disadvantage traditionally due to the smaller workforce. With the advent of automation, this field gets leveled. One of the strong driving factors for industrial revolution is the entrance of social media into industrial deliveries. So long as you maintain the technology advantage, you are able to encash on the market,” commented Sivaram PV, Chairman - Non Executive, B&R Industrial Automation Pvt Ltd, and President, Automation Industry Association (AIA). 

 

Emphasising on the importance of quality,  Subba Bangera, Director of PMMAI (Plastics Machinery Manufacturers Association of India), and Chairman, Active Biz Solutions Pvt Ltd, said, “All SMEs are making products which is called made for India. But their products should be accepted outside India and should be of global standards. The industry needs to understand how to make manufacturing cost-effective. They also need to have strong leadership training and a standardisation procedure. If you have got a good leadership and a good idea, then it will grow on its own.” 

 

The SME sector in India contributes 40 per cent of exports. Hence, to give a fillip to exports, SMEs need to be supported adequately. Explaining the benefits of ECGC services to SMEs, Shivaji Narvekar, GM, ECGC Ltd, said, “About 87 per cent of our customers that benefit from ECGC services belong to the SMEs sector. We have more than 19 products to service the exporters in various categories. Small exporters need finance - both for pre-shipment and post-shipment. Due to our organisation’s efforts, banks are comfortable and they provide the finance for the export sectors.”

 

In a globalised market, large organisations source products from across the globe and SMEs are critic link of this global supply chain network. Sharing his perspective on this issue, Abhishek Bohra, Partner, Bohmen Industries, said, “Larger corporations depend heavily on SMEs in their supply chain for procurement of critical parts. Traditionally, large corporations build their vendor base from the SMEs sector and SMEs focus on one or two large customers to give them a chunk of their business. Instead of that, the small scale industries (SSIs) should target a number of medium scale enterprises, so that it gives them (SSIs) immense opportunities to develop world-class products. At the same time, it will give SSIs a better bandwidth to do things their own way.”

 

According to Sunil Kumar, Director for Adhesive Industrial Business, Henkel India, SMEs should build leadership culture within their organisations to become successful. “It is important to bring out the role model behaviour in people so that value system, vision and mission, which the company believes strongly, are put into action. And if an SME is able to do that and communicate it with its customers, then chances of collaboration with large companies increase,” he added.

 

In his concluding remarks, Saikat Roy, Head - SME, CARE Ratings, said, "Rapid disruption gives rise to business opportunities. SMEs possess intrinsic advantages due to their scale. They need to find a balance between ‘investing’ for building forward looking capabilities and ‘managing’ day to day operations.”

 

Amidst the challenging market scenario in India and worldwide, the SME sector has been continuously showing consistent efforts of resilience, playing a pivotal role in driving the growth engine of the nation. Going forward, Industrial Products Finder (IPF), through IPF Industrial Excellence Awards and other initiatives, will continue to lend its support to SMEs in their efforts to achieve excellence and become competitive not just in India but globally.

 

List of winners of IPF Industrial Excellence Awards 2018

 

Categories                                                                     Winner

Electrical and Electronics                                                 Ambetronics Engineers Pvt Ltd for Wireless

                                                                                      Gas Detector (WGD 100 Series)

 

Electrical and Electronics                                                 Electronic Relays India Pvt Ltd for Solid State Relay

 

Heat, Power & Energy Equipment                                     HRS Process Systems Ltd for HRS ParaDice dice 

                                                                                      pasteuriser

 

Hydraulics & Pneumatics                                                 Mercury Pneumatics Pvt Ltd for pneumatic Valves

 

Plastics, Packaging & Accessories                                   NOOS Technologies for SCoT (an anti-counterfeit

                                                                                     technology)

 

Plastics, Packaging & Accessories                                   Thar Shipping Lines for RFID seals and reader

 

Special Mention                                                              Pahwa MetalTech Pvt Ltd for copper titanium

                                                                                     non-sparking handtools

 

Special Mention                                                              Roots Multiclean Ltd for antibacterial tank for all

                                                                                     scrubber driers

 

 

Winners of IPF Fastest Growing Companies Awards

 

Categories                                                                        Winner

 

Agri & Food Processing                                                     Axiom Ayurveda

 

Auto Ancillary                                                                   Steelcast Ltd

 

Electrical & Electronics                                                      B C Power Controls Ltd

 

Electrical & Electronics                                                      Ideal Lighting Systems Pvt Ltd

 

Light Engineering                                                               Rotomag Motors and Controls

 

FMCG and Consumer Durables                                           Zydus Wellness Ltd

 

Plastics, Paper and Packaging                                            AM Mediplast

 

 

FEEDBACK

 

We are extremely honored to have received such a valuable award ‘3rd IPF Industrial Excellence Award 2018’ for our Wireless Gas Detection Series. A very special thanks to the Jury members and IPF team for giving us the recognition for our work. It was a proud moment for me as well as my colleagues to be amidst other bright minds and awardees. IPF has not only recognised our work, but has also set a platform for emerging SMEs like us to excel in the near future. This award has boosted our enthusiasm in taking “Make-in-India” concept further & achieve success in today’s competitive market.

 

Ravi Shah, CEO – Cold Chain Solutions, Ambetronics Engineers Pvt Ltd

 

 

It was indeed a very well organised event and professionally managed. I feel honoured to have been among such an esteemed group of industry members and academic stalwarts as well. I must mention we are inspired to be amongst the nominees. Very soon and who knows, get called out too.

 

Abhishek Bohra, Partner, Bohmen Industries

 

It was our pleasure to attend the function and receive the award from IPF. The function was quite interesting and engaging and the format is well thought out. Due to the good speakers and the panel discussion, we felt that our time was well utilised too and we got to learn a lot. We will surely participate in the future and wish you all the best for the coming years too so that you can grow this event and get increased numbers in participation.

 

Dieter Rasquinha, Director, Mercury Pneumatics Pvt Ltd

 

Thank you very much for inviting me to the Award ceremony. At outset, I will like to congratulate your team who executed the events with clockwork precision. I congratulate winners and also wish the best luck next time to the nominees. Dignitaries present made the event memorable. This kind of events will encourage and motivate SME entrepreneurs. Thank you once again and wish you all the best for future events.

 

Bhavesh Desai, Founder, Web Sales Global

 

Thank you for organising and arranging wonderful event. It was indeed a great feeling to see and hear the peer and experts under one platform. I appreciate the efforts put in by IPF to make this event a grand success. I look forward to next year event and hopefully one day to hold the trophy myself.

 

Nimesh Purohit, Director, B S Hydro Pneumatics Pvt Ltd