Here’s how Snapdeal has handheld India’s SME sector and pumped life in it

At a time when the Indian government should support the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and make them thrive in the ecosystem, there are other players that are doing the job.

In a bid to make SMEs flourish, India’s online marketplace Snapdeal is doing the job and has helped the SMEs grow by leaps and bounds.

Snapdeal’s capital financing arm-Capital Assist-has handheld SMEs. Since its launch, it has given out Rs 200 crore to the SME sector and Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl plans to give SMEs their first Rs 1000 crore fund.

This is not all, Capital Assist, like its name, has been assisting SMEs and giving out funds at paltry interest rate of 1-4% per month.

“Ideally, something like Capital Assist should not exist if financing was smooth for SMEs in the country. However, because it isn’t so, and also India and China are very different that ways, because of which Capital Assist needs to exist that way. So far, we have zero NPAs because some SMEs today are at the edge of entrepreneurship n they realise that defaulting would be similar to killing the goose with the golden egg,” said Bahl.

The e-Commerce industry is indeed flourishing but is also taking Indian ecosystem in line.

A report by Snapdeal and KPMG showed how e-Commerce industry gave steam to SMEs.

Here are 10 key findings of the joint report.

1. The e-commerce sector in India is projected to cross USD80 billion by 2020 and USD300 billion by 2030 and is already changing the way small and medium businesses operate in India

2. SMEs that use the internet extensively tend to export approximately twice as much by export value when compared to SMEs using the internet sparingly

3. 43% of SMEs in India participate in online sales

4. 27% of SMEs using the internet are engaging in e-commerce

5. 69% of SMEs report an increase in customers due to the internet

6. 85% of the SMEs who adopted e-Commerce believe that it is a cost effective medium to grow sales

7. Around 77% of the SMEs who have adopted e-commerce were listed on online marketplaces

8. It has been found that SMEs who actively adopt the internet for business activities boast 51% higher revenues, which results in 49% more profit and a 7% broader customer-base than their offline-only counterparts

9. 73% SMEs agree that ecommerce helps make accurate market comparisons

10. Adoption of ecommerce may boost the profit margins of SMEs (up to 49%) by reducing overhead costs and upfront capital investment.

Also, it is worth mentioning that on an average 100% of the high-web SMEs in India have a website, use the internet for online advertising and transact using e-Commerce in comparison to other emerging countries such as China, Brazil and Indonesia.

To this, Bahl said he is confident that the government is here to support not only the startup ecosystem but also the e-Commerce industry, specifically and added he is unfazed by the kind of criticism that e-Commerce industry faces.

“We need to segregate what is the reality from what an individual wants. No consumer or business or brand will ever say that e-Commerce is bad,” said Bahl.

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