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The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector can play a key role in making India a leading electronic manufacturing destination, S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy), said on Wednesday.  

In his address at the CII MSME Growth Summit here, he said that this can be achieved by increasing the proportion of domestically manufactured components.

"Manufacturing will play a major role in the structural transformation of the Indian economy and electronics will be an important sector driving this transition. We should enhance domestic value-add in electronics from 18-20 per cent to 35-40 per cent within the next five years," Krishnan said.

"MSMEs will play a crucial role in this effort and have a huge role to play in electronics components manufacturing."

He emphasised the huge potential that digitisation holds to be a game changer for the MSME segment. Adoption of technology by smaller players through cluster-based facilities and retrofitting existing facilities are cost-effective ways to go digital for this segment.

Underlining the importance of a digital economy, he said that MeitY is working to assess the size of the digital economy in the country.

Dr Ishita Ganguli Tripathy, Additional Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME, highlighted that women’s participation in registered MSMEs needs to be increased from 39 per cent. She emphasised leveraging the "7 As" to empower women: availability, accessibility, affordability, awareness, accountability, alliance, and achievement.

She added that educating MSMEs about regulatory requirements and ESG compliances is essential for their sustainable growth.

Government and large enterprises can play an important role in supporting MSMEs and MSMEs must leverage the digital ecosystem, said T Koshy, Managing Director & CEO, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

He added that the network is also adding insurance as a new component which will be visible soon.