CHENNAI

The Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) continues to play an important role in bringing together industry, government and other stakeholders to address emerging opportunities and challenges for businesses across southern India said its president Arun Alagappan at the chamber’s 116th Annual General Meeting.

“India’s ambition for 2047 will not be settled in its boardrooms. It will be settled in its small enterprises. Whether the priority is manufacturing, agriculture, technology, infrastructure, defence, the green and blue economy or global trade, not one of these can be carried out without the MSME sector,” he said.

Mr. Alagappan further said that the next decade also belongs to the States: Tamil Nadu is building towards a trillion-dollar economy and Andhra Pradesh has set itself an equally serious ambition in Swarnandhra @2047, and in both cases it is the small enterprise, not the large corporation, that will decide whether those targets are met. “Southern India has the industrial base, the ports and the talent to lead that effort. What is needed now is for the government and the industry to move together — enterprise by enterprise, cluster by cluster and district by district,” he noted.

Kondapalli Srinivas, Minister for MSME, SERP, NRI Relations and Empowerment, Government of Andhra Pradesh, in his inaugural address, said that the empowerment of a household is the foundation for building a stronger State and a stronger nation.

“By creating opportunities for entrepreneurship, employment and higher incomes, we can enable households to contribute meaningfully to economic growth. Andhra Pradesh is taking steps to create an enabling ecosystem for MSMEs through industrial parks, common facilities, access to finance and innovation,” he added.