West Bengal occupies a leading position in India in terms of development of micro, small and medium enterprises. MSME predominance in West Bengal includes areas like iron and steel, gems and jewellery, leather and leather products, textile and apparels including jute, plastic and chemicals, engineering, marine products, etc. In order to tap the possible export opportunities in general, and to Southeast Asian countries in particular, it is imperative that the State's MSMEs capitalize on their export potential too. With this intent and focus, The Bengal Chamber organized the "NEO MSME Summit-2030: An MSME Odyssey" on 7th June, 2019 at the Hotel Hindustan International. The main objective of the Summit was to bring together the relevant stakeholders on one platform for meaningful deliberation and address key issues related to the MSME sector that also draws a road map for appropriate changes and reforms through the next decade.

The Summit witnessed the presence of many eminent speakers. Mr. Ajoy Bandopadhyaya, Director-MSME Development Institute (MSME DI), Kolkata was the Special Guest. While speaking at the summit Mr. Bandopadhyaya said that the eastern part of the country is resource rich but its potential is not being fully utilised. Admitting that West Bengal has a lot of agro-based industries and large parts of the agro products are produced here, the resources are still wasted due to insufficient distribution, lack of cold storage and marketing facilities. The MSME sector in agribusiness needs extensive storage facilities, technological assistance and logistical support with a good e-commerce site for proper marketing and reach to customers. He also stressed for focus on the north-eastern region as most of the products in North East are produced organically and there is need for the MSMEs to be guided on procuring, packing and exporting.

The Bengal Chamber President Mr. Indrajit Sen said that the main objective of this summit was to bring together the relevant stakeholders on one platform for meaningful deliberation for the benefit of this sector.

Japan was the focus country. Mr. Ken Nakamura, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Japan and Mr. Keiichi Higuchi, President, Kawasaki Rikuso Transportation Co. Ltd., Tokyo who has keen interest for investment in West Bengal also addressed the Summit. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Higuchi, highlighted the success of his warehousing company that opened first in Singur in West Bengal.

Other important speakers in the Summit were Dr. Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur, Mr. S Kalyanram, General Manager-SME, State Bank of India, Mumbai, Mr. Wenkatesh Patri, Head Sales & Business Development, Amazon Global selling, Mr. Tojo Banerjee, VP & Regional Head, Eastern Region-National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., Mr. B K Mitra, Sr. Branch Manager, NSIC, Mr. Sanjay Goenka, Managing Director and Promoter, Hindcon Chemicals Ltd., Mr. Partha Bhattacharya, Vice President (Materials), CESC Limited, Mr. Shibram Majhi, IRSS, Deputy Chief Materials Manager, Eastern Railway and Mr. Debashis Bhattacharjee, Deputy Manager (Vendor Development), GRSE. Mr. Debkumar Basu, Chairperson, Manufacturing & MSME Committee, BCC&I moderated the Summit.

The participants were mostly manufacturers and exporters from different industrial sectors.