Internet helps SMEs grow revenues by 51, profits by 49 pc

MUMBAI, INDIA: FICCI, in partnership with Google released new research that showed the web makes a big impact on small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in India.

The report, compiled and presented by Nathan Associates, showed that SMEs, who use the web, fare much better than those that do not.

On an average, web-enabled SMEs boasted revenues 51 percent higher, 49 percent more profit, and customer bases 7 percent broader than their offline-only counterparts.

The study revealed significant opportunities both for India's booming SME sector, where fewer than 5 percent of all businesses even maintain a web presence, and for India's economy: small medium enterprises are critical to the economic growth in India, where 47 million SMEs employ about 100 million people and contribute more than 8 percent of India's GDP.

According to the report, only 51 percent of online SMBs use the web to advertise a mere 27 percent use it for e-commerce. But with 95 percent of businesses yet to even establish a website; India is poised for big gains as more small enterprises come online.

Speaking about the key findings from the report, Sanjay Bhatia, chairman, FICCI MSME Committee and Chairman and MD, Hindustan Tin Works Limited said: "The Internet will play a vital role in narrowing the gap between Indian SMEs' potential and their aspirations. India has all that it takes to compete with other developing and fast growing economies."

"With the success of e-commerce companies like Makemytrip and Flipkart in India, we believe that more Indian SMEs can benefit from the Internet and eCommerce. While the government has introduced policies that stress upon the development of SMEs, with this report we would like to highlight how Internet can play an instrumental role in driving growth of the SMEs in the country," he added.

The study showed that Internet use was the highest among SMEs in the IT & ITES, tourism/transportation, chemical products (96 percent) and pharmaceuticals (95 percent).

Only 49 percent of Internet using SMEs surveyed had websites; IT & ITES and hospitality had the highest numbers. SMEs in the B2B space had the lowest number of websites.