DURBAN - The South African Consul-General in Mumbai, India, Maropene Ramokgopa, has said South Africa should follow the example set by India’s small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector.
She said that in India it was the SMMEs that were responsible for the creation of jobs and for anchoring the economy, and not big business.
Ramokgopa was speaking at a seminar held by the Department of Trade and Industry in Mumbai.
She said the Indian government’s successes within the SMME sector came because it had identified an industry it would like to develop, and then created opportunities for start-ups to grow through incubation initiatives and through the awarding of tax breaks as these SMMEs grew.
She cited the rise of the Indian Information Technology sector as an example.
“I’m also very excited that the department chose Mumbai as one of their stops for the Outward Selling Mission into India and at a time when trade relations between ourselves and our Indian counterparts need to grow,” she said.
Ramokgopa said discussions that had already taken place with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had identified partnerships that could be pursued going forward.
The chairperson of Maharashtra State Council CII Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Kashmira Mewawala, said that the Indian government had undertaken a series of reforms to make doing business in India much easier.
“Initiatives such as Start-Up India, the Make in India programme and Digital India have helped shine a spotlight on India as an attractive and able market,” she said. “Our commercial relations are flourishing.”