Public Procurement from MSMEs as a policy is aimed at promoting MSMEs and start-ups in the country. Under the Policy, every Central Government Ministries, Departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) is mandated to procure minimum of 20 per cent of their total annual value of goods or services from Micro and Small Enterprises. The Policy rests upon core principles of competitiveness, adhering to sound procurement practices and execution of orders for supply of goods or services in accordance with a system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective.
From time to time, Vendor Development Programmes (VDPs) are being organized by MSME Development Institutes located in every corner of the country to provide common platform for business as well as selling organizations to interact with each other with a view to identifying emerging demands of the buyer organizations while simultaneously providing an opportunity for displaying the capabilities of the small scale entrepreneurs and their industrial ventures.
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCL), in association with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (MSME-DI), New Delhi, has organised a two day National Vendor Development Programme cum Industrial Exhibition for MSMEs in New Delhi on March 16th and 17th, 2017. The focus of this program is on energy and power sector.
Inaugurating the vendor development programme, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner (MSME) S N Tripathi said, “MSMEs disrupt and innovate to remain the growth engine of Indian economy, and MSME Ministry assists them at various levels of innovation. While PSUs should ensure the compulsory 20 per cent procurement from small units, MSMEs must also follow Zero Effect Zero Defect (ZED) to be globally competitive. The goal is to achieve the true spirit of Make in India.”
PGCL CVO V K Saksena said, “While there is a huge opportunity for MSEs in public procurement, at the same time it is equally beneficial for PSUs. The simple reason being, whatever equipment we source from MNCs, particularly in the power and energy sector, the same can be purchased from MSEs at much competitive rates. So there is a tremendous amount of synergy and compatibility between your desire to do business with us and our desire to do business with someone who can provide us quality at the optimum cost.”
Saksena also suggested to develop a culture of summer internships of students from institutions such as IITs and NITs with MSEs. This will institutionalise an alliance among the users, producers and of course the youngsters, who need to step-in and provide the technological inputs for benefits of MSEs and create an ecosystem.
It was also informed at the event that PGCL has surpassed the 20 per cent mark and has made a procurement of 22 per cent from MSEs.
R K Panigrahi, Director, MSME DI, New Delh; PGCL Director (Operations) R P Sasmal and Major General Rajesh Sahai were also present at the event and put forward their views. Various MSMEs from power and energy sector participated to pitch for vendor enrolment.
