The Bengal Chamber in collaboration with Bombay Chamber supported by the Ministry of MSME, Government of India and presented by Victor Moses and Company organized a discussion forum on "A Cost Effective Option for Resolution of Disputes for SMEs" on 20th August, 2019 at the Bengal Chamber.

In the current ecosystem of growing SMEs, small businesses often face disruptions of legal issues that hamper their business flow and settling them incurs cost, time and energy. In this regard, The Legal committee and the MSME committee of the Bengal Chamber in joint collaboration with Bombay Chamber had organized an awareness programme on "Mediation-A Cost Effective Option for Resolution of Disputes for SMEs". Pendency, delays and backlogs in courts are hampering dispute resolution and contract enforcement. This also escalates legal costs, delays projects and in turn may discourage investments. In view of these the Chamber is trying to create an alternate non-adversarial mode of dispute resolution, which are : Quick, Confidential and Cost efficient.

Our initiative aims at assisting disputants to communicate better with one another to mitigate the scope and intensity of dispute. Our mission is to create a harmonious business environment by encouraging amicable and speedy resolution of disputes through aided dialogue.

The seminar began with a formal welcome address delivered by Mr. Dip Narayan Mittra, Chairperson of the Legal Committee. Mr. Mittra said that the Chamber of Commerce will provide a platform and create a centre of mediation with a panel of experts who can settle commercial disputes and assist business to carry forward. The objective of the program was to create awareness about role of mediation in commercial disputes and to collate stakeholders' views and explanations. A cost effective option for resolution of disputes can be done through mediation was stated by Mr. Deb Kumar Basu, Chairperson, Manufacturing & MSME, The Bengal Chamber.

The seminar was further addressed by Justice Soumen Sen, Calcutta High Court where he said that every MSME should have a trained mediator and also said that nowadays High Court also looks for mediation. It is also referring some disputes to the mediator as mediation is cost effective and consumes less time. The session was addressed by Mr. Anurag Srivastava, I.A.S, Director, MSME, Government of West Bengal who stated that from the Government's perspective MSMEs play a very important part. Opportunities in MSMEs are highest especially in countries like India. MSME are important for success of large industries but also come with their share of challenges. They are vulnerable to markets and payments on time issues. Large number of livelihoods depends on them. In 2018 more than 44 crore has been spent under the MSME Act for settling cases that were filed. Bengal has more than 80 lakh MSMEs and only 102 cases have been settled under the MSME Council. So there is a long way to go.

Mr. Sumit Banerjee, Mentor-Centre for Mediation & Conciliation, BCCI-Mumbai, stated that Mediation must be encouraged as it helps the parties to participate in dispute resolution actively and directly whereby they may explain the facts of their dispute, lay down options or ways to resolve the dispute and make a final decision by coming to a settlement.

Other dignitaries present were, Mr. Samrat Sen, Senior Advocate, Calcutta High Court, Mr. Anuroop Omkar, Partner, AK & Partners, Mr. H.K. Guha, President, FACSI, Prof. Ranadip Bhattacharya, Assistant Professor, JIS University, Mr. Saurya Bhattacharya Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Mumbai, Shri Debdutta Banerjee, Regional Secretary, FASII and Mr Varun Kedia, Partner, VERUS Advocates, the programme was concluded by Mr. Paritosh Sinha, Co-Chairperson of the legal Committee.

The seminar was attended by 100 plus attendees representing MSMEs and a section of legal students.