The Manufacturing and Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Committee of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I) organized the fourth edition of the annual signature event, The Manufacturing & MSME Conclave and MSME Awards, 2020 on March 6, 2020 at Vivanta Hotel, Kolkata. The theme of The Conclave was, "Future of Manufacturing & MSME: Opportunities & Challenges".

Manufacturing & MSME Conclave, 2020
The Manufacturing & MSME Conclave observed a footfall of over 450 participants, which majorly comprised of MSMEs, large industries, policy makers, academia, banks and other funding agencies. The platform helped MSMEs to engage with large industries and comprehend opportunities, identify modes and schemes of receiving funding support from Banks and Non-Banking Financial Institutions and categorize ways to improve productivity for their units. The discussions at The Conclave focused on how MSMEs can contribute largely towards sustainable growth of the sector.

Speakers at The Conclave deliberated on the following sub-themes that corroborated to the key theme, "Future of Manufacturing & MSME: Opportunities & Challenges":
▪  Opportunities for MSMEs in Steel Sector
▪  Are we EV Ready: Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EVs) and opportunities for MSMEs
▪  Access to Affordable Credit for MSMEs and Way Forward with GST: Challenges and Opportunities
▪  Opportunities for MSMEs in Defence Sector and Indian Aviation Sector (in MRO facilities)
▪  Leadership Forum: Evolution of Renewable Energy Industry and Leather Industry in India and West Bengal
▪  Improving Productivity: Ways and Challenges Ahead for MSMEs

At The Conclave, The Bengal Chamber also organized a Business to Government (B2G) Meet between MSMEs of the state and The MSME&T Department, Government of West Bengal at The Conclave. Several MSMEs interacted with senior officials from The MSME&T Department and got to know better about the various MSME schemes and policies of the state. The Bengal Chamber also organized two Business to Business (B2B) Meets at The Conclave between:
▪  MSMEs & Tata Steel Limited and ▪  MSMEs & Exide Industries Limited along with Chloride Power Systems & Solutions Limited

Each B2B meet was attended by 15 MSMEs. The B2B meets helped MSMEs have better clarity on procurement procedures of Tata Steel Limited, Exide Industries Limited and Chloride Power Systems & Solutions Limited.

MSME Awards 2020
The MSME Awards 2020 was a platform for MSMEs (both from service sector and manufacturing sector) to showcase the practices followed and initiatives undertaken by them to improve their efficiency and productivity. 35 MSMEs applied for the Awards competition, out of which 21 MSMEs were shortlisted by the jury members to make presentations (on the practices followed by them to improve productivity). The shortlisted MSMEs made presentations on March 5, 2020 at the Vivanta Hotel. The Jury selected 6 best case study presentations out of the 21 finalist MSMEs. The 6 best MSMEs were felicitated with trophies, medals and certificates on March 6, 2020. The other finalists received a memento each along with certificates. Effort of the applicants, who could not make it to the final rounds, was also recognized and they were complimented with certificates.

Speakers at the Conclave included:
▪  Mr. B B Chatterjee, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Director, ITC Infotech India Limited
▪  Mr. Sandipan Chakravarty, Former President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman, TM International Logistics Limited
▪  Mr. Aloke Mookherjea, Former President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman, Howden Solyvent (India) Private Limited
▪  Mr. Indrajit Sen, Immediate Former President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Managing Director, International Combustion (India) Limited
▪  Mr. Abraham George Stephanos, Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Managing Director, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited
▪  Mr. Satyabrata Dey, Managing Director, Sreeleathers Limited
▪  Prof. Dr. Damodar Acharya, Former Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
▪  Mr. Rajesh Pandey, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles, Government of West Bengal
▪  Mr. Debkumar Basu, Chairperson, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
▪  Mr. Bimal Sarkar, Former Managing Director, Imerys Steelcasting India Private Limited and Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
▪  Mr. Sanjay S Sahni, Chief of Marketing & Sales - Branded Products, Tata Steel Limited
▪  Mr. R.K. Singh, Chief Procurement Officer, Tata Steel Limited
▪  Mr. Pritish K Sen, Member, Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry
▪  Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group
▪  Mr. Sanjoy Mukherjee, Vice President . Distribution (Technical), CESC Limited
▪  Mr. Rajesh Khosla, Vice President -Manufacturing, Exide Industries Limited
▪  Mr. Vivek Chauhan, Chief of Marketing, Tata Steel Limited
▪  Mr. T.B. Chatterjee, Chairperson, Indirect Tax Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
▪  Mr. Abhay Charan Sahoo, Deputy General Manager, Canara Bank
▪  Mr. Kunal Raman, Regional Manager, SME Solutions, CRISIL
▪  Mr. Dipan Mitra, Manager, National Stock Exchange
▪  Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd.), President, CENERS-K and Honorary Chairperson, Strategic Initiative Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry
▪  Lt. General Aniruddha Chakravarty, AVSM, VSM (Retd), and Honorary Member, Strategic Initiative Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry
▪  Mr. H.R. Jagannath, Chief Executive Officer, Air India Engineering Services Limited
▪  Mr. Shekhar Shrivastava, Immediate Former Chief Executive Officer, Bangalore Complex, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
▪  Air V ice Marshal S Borade, VSM, Dy SMSO, Head Quarters Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force
▪  Ayudh Bhushan Dr. Rajib Chakraborty, IOFS (Retd.), Former Senior General Manager, Gun and Shell Factory, Cossipore, Ordnance Factory Board, Ministry of Defence, Government of India and Honorary Member, Strategic Initiative Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry
▪  Mr. S.K. Dash, Senior Vice President . Engineering, Vistara
▪  Mr. Harihar Das, DGM-VD & IEP; Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers Limited
▪  Dr. Siddhartha Das, Professor, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
▪  Mr. Samujjal Ganguly, CEO, Chloride Power Systems and Solutions Limited
▪  Mr. Jagdish Gulati, President, Indian Leather Products Association (ILPA)
▪  Mr. Sanjay Behera, Head-Marketing, Tata Steel Limited and Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry
▪  Dr. Surjya Kanta Pal, Professor-in-Charge, Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
▪  Mr. Sanjoy Guhathakurtha, Industry Leader for Manufacturing, Metals & Mining, IBM India
▪  Mr. Suvra Majumdar, Senior Technical Expert, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
▪  Mr. Deepankar Biswas, Senior Management Consultant (Independent Consultant)
▪  Ms. Chandroma Saha, Chief Executive Officer, S. Saha and Company and Director, Saha Steel Private Limited