February 8: In the webinar of Saturday, 5th February 2022, the focus was on the proposals concerning the StartUp Sector and MSME in the budget presented by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The webinar had participants from round the globe.
After the Moderator, Ms Bhavna Shah, Co-Chair, National Board of Advisors MSME & Startups Forum – Bharat set the ball rolling, three speakers expounded their views.
Ramanan Ramanathan, Former (First) Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, Additional Secretary at NITI Aayog was the first speaker, delivered who delivered Key Note Address, provided an overall glimpse of the sector and the progress it has made over the years. The importance of this segment in the national fabric was brought out eloquently.
The second speaker was Miss Radhika Rao, Senior Vice President, Economics and Strategy Research, DBS Bank, Singapore. An in-depth analysis of the budget with special reference to the MSME sector was made. She brought out how the budget proposals could be a game changer for the MSME sector.
The next speaker was Mr Kuntal Dave, Proprietor of Nanubhai Desai and Company. As he belonged to the MSME sector, he provided a rich ground level perspective. His take on how the budget could impact the segment was interesting.
This was followed up with fielding questions from the participants.
Ms. Bhavna Shah moderated the session extremely well. Her summation on key points brought out by each speaker after their talk was apt. To end the session, Bhavna rounded up the evening with her synopsis of the session.