Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, has said that the promotion of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are crucial to India's growth and for addressing issues of poverty and unemployment.
While addressing the TIE Entrepreneurial Summit 2007, he stressed that the entrepreneurship is critical for increasing competitiveness as new services, products, processes and innovations increase efficiency, thereby improving the competitive strength of the economy as a whole.
Shri Kamal Nath said: “We are extremely fortunate in India that people here have an abundance of entrepreneurial spirit. India has been relatively successful in creating a policy environment that takes advantage of this intangible, yet vital, asset.
Entrepreneurs have emerged as the engine of economic and social development throughout the world- by generating employment, growth and international competitiveness”.
Elaborating on the role played by the entrepreneurs, Shri Kamal Nath observed that Industry has been one of the major drivers of the growth of the Indian economy.
The last four years have witnessed impressive rates of industrial growth averaging around 10%. In 2006-07, the industrial growth was quite impressive at 11.5%, while the rate of growth of manufacturing was even higher at 12.5%.
This has resulted in FDI inflows to India growing at a fast rate. Compared to US$5.5 billion in 2005-06, FDI inflows reached US $15.5 billion during 2006-07 which corresponds to an increase of 185%, he further added.
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