Technology for MSMEs: Covid-19 has changed the status quo for most elements connected to compact companies. And now, to rapid-track their sales recovery, micro and compact enterprises (MSE) have increasingly switched to digital platforms. The adoption of digital channels such as on the net aggregators or marketplaces, social media, and mobile advertising has elevated from 29 per cent micro enterprises applying them ahead of Covid to 47 per cent as of November, according to a Crisil survey. The jump was marginally larger amongst compact enterprises from 29 per cent ahead of Covid to 53 per cent through the mentioned period for income generation.
“Despite their limitations, micro enterprises are not very far from small enterprises in digital adoption. Also, many more are now saying they will take the digital route soon. This underscores the fact that increasing digitalisation enlarges the footprint of MSEs, helping them tap newer markets and improving their access to credit,” mentioned Bhushan Parekh, Director, CRISIL on the survey of 566 corporations with turnover beneath Rs 25 crore. While 55 per cent respondents have been compact units, 45 per cent have been micro enterprises.
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On the manufacturing side, MSEs in gems and jewellery, and textiles showed maximum improvement. Adoption of digital promoting platforms amongst gems and jewellery producers — producing mainly non-valuable, stone-studded jewellery, imitation jewellery, and luxury style jewellery — more than quadrupled to 55 per cent in November from 13 per cent ahead of the pandemic. Micro enterprises in the segment showed the largest jump of 41 per cent from earlier 13 per cent. On the other hand, the adoption amongst textile MSEs jumped 38 per cent vis-à-vis 20 per cent pre-Covid. Importantly, the jump was more for compact enterprises in textiles from 13 per cent to 44 per cent, in comparison to micro textiles units wherein adoption elevated to 14 per cent from 7 per cent.
Other sectors such as pharmaceuticals (excluding medicine retailers) saw no adjust in the adoption from 29 per cent ahead of Covid due to the fact of reasonably larger offline demand. In the services sector, genuine estate and human resource segments saw the highest adoption of digital sales channels. “Realtors were impacted by the pandemic largely due to the unavailability of migrant labour and travel restrictions,” mentioned Manasi Kulkarni, Associate Director, CRISIL. For HR firms, largely recruitment corporations, the social-distancing norms pushed them towards the adoption of digital channels to connect with clientele and possible candidates.