SMEs in India could start a new world order: Pravin Daryani

by Suman Gupta

Mumbai, September, 2019: A&A Consulting’s latest survey offers key insights about the pain points experienced by SMEs in India. Pravin Daryani, the chairman, managing director and founder, revealed his thoughts on the findings. He asserted that none of these findings were particularly surprising for him, as he has been mentoring SMEs on managing specifically these challenges.

The key findings of the survey revolved around the following pain points:

Sales: 47% of Indian SMEs highlighted that sales remains a key pain point. SMEs need to focus on market innovation, product quality and organizing their business to make an impact. Despite having an awareness about the steps necessary to transform, it is the daily battle for survival that stops them from making transformative business changes.

Working Capital Management: 20% of the SMEs interviewed find managing working capital to be difficult. In a sluggish economy, sans adequate working capital, SMEs cannot quite respond to market changes.

Retaining Skilled Workforce: A remarkable 20% SMEs find it difficult to hire and retain skilled employees. This highlights that there is a pertinent need to change the very approach towards employee policies by SMEs.

Branding and Marketing: 8% of SMEs responded saying branding and marketing remains a problem for them. SMEs need to find a way to distinguish themselves and create a market position that builds brand value.

Profitable Business Model: 5% SMEs find it difficult to set up a profitable business model. While doing this is not exactly a paint-by-numbers task, it is not so formidable an undertaking as many SMEs think it is. With enough data, adequate time and the right analyses of all the dynamics of a business, a business model with a satisfactory degree of probability to succeed is not a distant dream. All a business needs are certain tools, methodologies and intellectual resources to make this possible.

Pravin Daryani, further avers, “SMEs can grow irrespective of external factors such as a slowdown or policy changes throwing challenges. They first need to bridge the gaps that exist internally. The markets will eventually ease out. But this is a good time for them to introspect, work on internal problems, fix them and be prepared to cash-in on the opportunities that will come their way. ”

He also explained that he did not find any of the challenges to be particularly surprising. After interacting with SME clients across the country, he realized that these problems have existed for a long time. Pravin reckons that a structured approach to business can help circumvent many of the problems that SMEs face today.

About A&A Business Consulting: A&A Business Consulting (AABC) is India’s leading consulting company for Small and Medium Enterprises. AABC has completed 1500 full-fledged consulting projects assisting businesses achieve organized growth. The company has presence in 7 states across India with a network of 18000+ SMEs. The team of 450+ professionals serves clients from industries as diverse as textiles, machine tools, apparel, agriculture, engineering, chemicals, food processing, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, telecom, education, BFSI, automobile, construction & infrastructure and FMCG.