SME 2.0

THE PERIOD OF TRANSFORMATION FOR SMEs CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IS THROWING UP HUGE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES AND GOING DIGITAL IS AT THE CENTRE OF IT

- KRISHNA GOPALAN

OVER THE PAST MONTH, Pankaj Gadgil has been very busy. Work has seen him spend a lot of time moving between cities. As Head of Self Employed Segment, SME and Merchant Ecosystem at ICICI Bank, he is constantly in touch with customers and looking for ways in which he can be more relevant to them. This is in addition to the constant pressure of increasing the customer base.

Perhaps for the first time in his career, he sees a big cultural shift in SMEs (small and medium enterprises). “A lot of things are being shown with greater levels of transparency in the books. One is seeing the clear emergence of the next generation and that is a good sign,” he says. And in at least eight of every 10 entrepreneurs running family-owned businesses that he has met, the younger lot is very comfortable with the digital world. “Technology comes easily to them, and many of them in their late 2os or early 30s—have studied overseas before taking charge of their business.”

In many ways, this is the foundation of the SME 2.0 story in India, where digitisation and technology are the critical components. “The difference with the earlier generation is that they dealt with public sector banks, while their children speak of private banks or the fintech world,” says Gadgil. The changes taking place are rapid and in real-time. He calls this a “cultural shift”, which seems rather appropriate.

D IS FOR DIGITAL