Google started this initiative by offering free websites for the first year to Indian SMEs. It also included domain registration and hosting services. Many Indian SMEs have gone online since then. This initiative has helped to break barriers for businesses in getting online.

SMBs have a general perception that getting online can be complex, time-consuming and costly. It is this very perception that prevents them from taking the first step in building an online presence. But the new initiative makes it possible for SME owners to create a website for their business by following just a few simple steps.

There are 8 million small and medium businesses operating in India that have the potential to gain from the power of internet but only 400,000 Indian SMEs have websites or some web presence. Though now more SME owners have started to register but Google aims to get 500,000 SMEs online within three years span.

Google has started to tap many clusters of SMBs operating in India. It has started two call centers to support SMEs in India and to help them understand the advantages of online advertising. The call centers attend to both inbound and outbound calls and support businesses in local languages as well.

The way of functioning of businesses has changed today as the Indian economy is writing a new growth story. Mr. Kumar says that it is important that SMEs understand the growth prospects and start adopting IT solutions. Mr. Kumar while attending a seminar titled ‘Information, Communication & Technology for Enhancing Competitiveness of Indian SMEs’ spoke about SMEs and IT solutions.

In the seminar, Mr. Kumar disclosed that the Government is going to make available high quality broadband access through ‘National Optical Fibre’ network in village Panchayats by the year 2014. Semiconductor wafer fabrication is easy to carry with no transportation charges. The project is under process and is going to be very beneficial for all.

For the sake of skill development in IT sector, the Government is going to train 10 million people in the country in coming days as part of ‘National Skill Development Programme’.

The government has also made commitments to collaborate with cloud service providers so as to bring information technology and software facilities to small units at cheap rates. It is going to be of great help to small entrepreneurs as they now gain access to expensive software without buying them.

Cloud Computing is a set of services whereby small businesses can find infrastructure support and data storage facility on a third party server and connect through internet. SMEs in cloud computing environment can find resources whereby they do not need to own infrastructure themselves and instead can just utilize the available resources on a third party server and pay for the service as per their usage. So, their expenditure gets curtailed to a great extent as they themselves do not need to buy and maintain infrastructure any longer.

‘Hitachi’ and ‘Tata Communications’ are planning to provide cloud computing services in the state of Gujarat. The companies are planning to expand their services to other states as well. There is no doubt that cloud computing is going to benefit SMEs that have requirement of inflated data storage and processing services. Cloud also takes care of maintenance and is available to businesses all the time.

The cloud computing industry in India is currently at $ 400 million and by 2015 it is expected to grow 10 times and will reach up-to 4 to 4.5 billion.

The SME challenges get reduced with B2B platform as it helps SMEs connect with each other and make exchanges. B2B platform also provides for a secured intranet for SMEs and allows their employees to share files. B2B makes it possible for SMEs to access their peer company profiles and also share their own profile with others. This opens up opportunity for companies to do business with other companies.

Progress is being made in the B2B domain for bringing SMEs on one platform. Technologies like ‘Warp’ has been introduced and it further empowers SMEs to engage with other companies. Even companies like Tata Teleservices launched its own B2B portal to help SMEs come closer to each other.

Google has a clear intention to help 500,000 Indian SMEs go online within three years with the ‘India Get Your Business Online’ program. Google has launched this program with support from HostGator. SMEs just require to log on to indiagetonline.in for a free website and web hosting facility that extends up-to a period of one year. Businesses are given customized domain, training and free tools so as to succeed online.

This initiative is going to help Indian SMEs find more customers in India as well as abroad. It is going to foster modernization of SMEs and make the most of opportunities for establishing presence on Internet. India being a potential internet market can derive the benefits of the internet economy with such catalyzing programs. It is going to bridge the information gap that exists and will help Indian SMEs come online. The Federation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (FISME) also supports the ‘India Get Your Business Online’ program.

Preference for cloud adoption is growing in recent years. Industries just have to build in competency so as to take advantage of cloud computing technologies. Nasscom chief wants policy to be created and designed so as to help enterprises execute a comprehensive security strategy.

Keeping in view India’s fast growing economy, Cloud computing is of immense importance and it is growing at a fast rate and offers immense opportunities to the SME sector. Industries have to be more innovative to make cloud computing more acceptable to all. There is good reason to believe that India is going to take a lead role in coming years in cloud computing. Indian SMEs and enterprises have started to transfer data into the cloud. So, cloud technology is going to proliferate in India.

The Slovenia Economy minister Darja Radic had a meet with Virbhadra Singh, MSME minister of India. In a discussion, Radic said that Slovenia being a member of the European Union can provide a gateway for Indian MSMEs to reach out to whole of Europe. Indian MSMEs can form strategic tie-ups with Slovenian businesses and capture European markets. Mrs. Radic is currently on a visit to India and is leading a delegation.

Mr. Singh in a notion of collaboration has assured full cooperation for deepening bilateral trade between India and Slovenia. He also re-emphasized the importance of MSME sector in the growth of national economy.

Special Focus is to be laid on IT MSMEs

The ministers opined that there is great scope for collaboration and growth of MSMEs in the IT sector. So, there is discussion on finding ways to collaborate in this sector. The IT sectors’ contribution for the economic growth of the country is close to 50%.

A recent official statement from the MSME Ministry reveals that proposals are made to send IT delegation to European nations. The objective is to set up IT units there, employ local people and provide technical support.

MSME ministry suggested establishment of Indo-Slovenia Industrial Estate and unleash potential of MSMEs and promote business tie-ups.

There is also scope for sectors like glass manufacturing and renewable energy as the Indo-Slovenia MSMEs can always collaborate and expand.

This SME segment pact has been inked by Dr. HP Kumar, CMD of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). Mr. Meskelchalla DG, Federal Micro and Small Enterprises Development Agency (FeMSEDA), Ethiopia is among the other members who helped in drafting the agreement. The drafting of the agreement is being done in the presence of Dr. Manmohan Singh and Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethopia.

India intends to foster cooperation with Ethiopia in a number of areas that include science &technology, education, research on agriculture and information technology.

In first quarter of 2011, consumer demand has declined. This is the reason for the slowdown in growth of the PC market. Small and midsized business (SMB) buying PCs has goaded the market to achieve success in the first quarter. Contribution also came from government buying as it was the financial year’s last quarter.

The major multinational PC vendors too experienced double digit growth in shipments of mobile PC during the 2011 first quarter. More than half of total PC shipments were contributed by the multinational brands during this period. Contributions came from Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo that accounted for 50.4 per cent of total shipments. HCL, the local vendor accounted for 7.1 per cent of PC shipments during first quarter of 2011.

The company has witnessed exponential growth in India during past years. Souma Das, Infor’s vice president, says, “We are expanding our footprint in India by moving from mid-market to large enterprises.”

To increase the inflow of large enterprise customers and to further expand the Infor’s overall business in India, Das wants the growth momentum to continue. This is possible only if the economy remains stable.

Infor has partnered with local and global system integrators (SIs). This has helped it to scale its reach to customers of large enterprise.  The R&D wing of the company at Hyderabad is working to customize solutions according to the Indian laws, compliance and tax regulatory norms.

The company has seen growth globally with 17 percent growth recorded in third quarter and the addition of more 2000 customers. Infor has entered into Indian market in 2006, but its product Baan or Baan ERP has been popular for over a decade now.

“We don’t want to sell one solution to every customer, but we have some of the best breed of solutions for specific segments such as retail, manufacturing, distribution, finance and others.” Das Said.