The Manufacturing and Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Committee of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I) organized its annual signature event, The Manufacturing & MSME Conclave and MSME Excellence Awards, 2021, phygitally on March 11th and 12th, 2021. The theme of The Conclave was, “Aiming for Self-Reliance through Manufacturing & Service Competitiveness”.

Participants at the Manufacturing & MSME Conclave majorly comprised of MSMEs, large MNCs, Indian industries, overseas industries, policy makers, academia, consultants, and several other related stakeholders. The platform helped MSMEs to engage with large industries and comprehend opportunities, and understand ways to improve their productivity or service rendering quality. 

Speakers at the conclave deliberated on the following sub-themes that corroborated to the key theme, ‘Aiming for Self-Reliance through Manufacturing & Service Competitiveness’: 

• Importance of Sustainable Production, Market Diversification and Future Readiness – A Post Lockdown Analysis with Industry Leaders  
• Innovation in Business Processes and its effect on Competitiveness 
• A Fire Side Chat Session on Evolution of Food Sector in Bengal and India
• Emerging Trends & Innovation in Renewables and Electronics: Inching towards a Self-Reliant India
• Impact of COVID on Industry & Future Roadmap for the Manufacturing & MSME Sector
• Ideate, Innovate, and Initiate: The key pillars for achieving Self-Reliance

At the conclave, The Bengal Chamber organized two Business to Business (B2B) Meets between: 

• MSMEs & Tata Steel Limited and 
• MSMEs & Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited

Each B2B meet was attended by around 25 MSMEs. The B2B meets helped MSMEs have better clarity on procurement procedures of Tata Steel Limited and Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited 

Highlights 

• At the conclave, a Past Presidents’ Discussion Forum was organized on the theme “Impact of COVID on Industry & Future Roadmap for the Manufacturing & MSME Sector” on March 12, 2021. Panelists of the Discussion Forum were Mr. Aniruddha Lahiri, Founder Chairman, Trishul Engineering Solutions Private Limited, Mr. Aloke Mookherjee, Chairman, Howden Solyvent (India) Private Limited, Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Founder and Senior Partner, Intueri Consulting LLP and Mr. Indrajit Sen, Managing Director, International Combustion (India) Limited. 
• The conclave had speakers from Japan and Bangladesh. Mr. Takashi Suzuki, Director General, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Mr. Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman & CEO, PRAN-RFL Group, Bangladesh were present as Guest of Honours at the Conclave and delivered Special Addresses at the Inaugural Session on March 11, 2021.
• The Inaugural session was also graced by Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited and Mr. Sanjay S Sahni, Chief of Marketing & Sales - Branded Products, Tata Steel. While Mr. Kumar deliberated the Keynote Address, Mr. Sahni delivered the Theme Address at the Conclave.  
• The Fire Side Chat Session was organized at the conclave on March 12, 2021. The theme of the session was “Evolution of Food Sector in Bengal and India”. The session observed a formal interview session that corroborate to the session theme in an informal setup. Mr. Tapas Dasgupta, Senior Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee and Senior Advisor, The BCC&I Centre of Excellence for MSMEs interviewed Mr. Pranab Chandra, Chairman, Mukharochak and Mr. Pratik Chandra, Director, Mukharochak at the session. 
• Two different sessions on Senior Leaders’ Discussion Forum were also organized at the Conclave on March 11, 2021 on the themes: 

• “Importance of Sustainable Production, Market Diversification and Future Readiness – A Post Lockdown Analysis with Industry Leaders”. The session was moderated by Mr. Abraham Stephanos, Managing Director, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited and President Designate, The Bengal Chamber. Panelists included Mr. K. K. SAI, Senior Vice President – Retail (Marketing), Berger Paints India Limited; Dr. Sujatha Narayan, Managing Director, Faiveley Transport and Regional Vice President, Wabtec Corporation India and Ms. Smita Pandit Chakraborty, Managing Director, Phoenix Conveyor Belts India (P) Ltd – Conveying Solutions, Continental AG.

• “Innovation in Business Processes and its effect on Competitiveness”. The session was moderated by Mr Bimal Sarkar, Immediate Former Managing Director, ImerysSteelcasting India Private Limited and Senior Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber. Session speakers included Dr. Rajesh Khosla, Vice President-Manufacturing(Industrial), Exide Industries Limited; Mr. P.K. Wilson Purty, Chief of Marketing, ECA Business, Tata Steel Limited; Dr. Arpan Pal, Chief Scientist & Head, Embedded Systems & Robotics, Tata Consultancy Services Innovation Lab; Mr. Avnish Kumar, Founder & CEO, LivNSense Technologies Private Limited, Bangalore and Mr. P. Rajagopalan, Managing Director, Primo Automation, Chennai.

• A session focusing on the requirements and opportunities of electronics sector and renewable energy sector was focused in the session on “Emerging Trends & Innovation in Renewables and Electronics: Inching towards a Self-Reliant India” held on March 12, 2021. The session was moderated by Mr. Sanjay Behera, Chief – Sales Manager, Tata Steel Limited, and Co-chairperson – Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber. Panelists of the session included Mr. Samujjal Ganguly, President, Navitas Green Solutions Private Limited, Mr. Animesh Biswas, Assistant Vice President (Government, Academic and Health), Dbaux Technologies and Mr. Debashish Banerjee, CEO, Fabricast Equipment. 
• A special session was designed with the MSMEs of West Bengal focusing on how they have to constantly ideate, innovate and implement those ideas to overcome unprecedented barriers on March 12, 2021. Discussions revolved around the challenges and opportunities of MSMEs in terms of achieving International Standard Quality. The theme of the session “Ideate, Innovate, and Initiate: The key pillars for achieving Self-Reliance” was set by Mr. C.R. Maitra, Senior Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Expert in APQP, TQM, PBE, BBSC, QPD, DoE, FMEA, DFA. Panelists included Mr. Swarnabha Bandopadhyay, Director, Bongs Prayukti, Mr. Jayanta Saha, Founder and CEO, Lintas Packaging; Mr. Shovankar Roy, Founder-Director, Trent Corporation, Mr. Rabin Roy, Founder and CEO, Sustiknow and Mr. Subrata Saha, Director, Saha Steel, Director, Saha Steel Private Limited and Member, Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber. The session Moderator was Dr. Anjan Ghosh, Senior Advisor, Centre of Excellence for MSMEs, The Bengal Chamber, Expert in TQM, TPM, 6 Sigma, Lean Management, Strategic Management, Business Excellence, Human Resource Development and Former Vice President - Total Quality Management, Exide Industries.     

The Platform 

For the first time in the history of The Chamber, a digital Conclave was organized with the following features:  

• Online exhibition halls 
• Virtual Kiosks (which displayed audio-visuals, product brochures and also had chat options with Company executives)  
• Online video B2B sessions (in parallel to the main Conclave sessions) 
• Online Networking arena (where participants could chat with other participants)

The participants experienced features which they are used to get in physical Conclaves.  

Press Coverage 

The Conclave was covered in leading Newspapers, such as the Times of India and Anandabazar Patrika.

MSME Excellence Awards 2021 

The MSME Excellence Awards 2021 was a platform for MSMEs (both from service sector and manufacturing sector) to showcase the practices followed and initiatives undertaken by them to improve their efficiency and productivity. 

39 MSMEs applied for the Awards competition, out of which 21 MSMEs were shortlisted by the Jury members to make presentations for the Final Rounds. 

The shortlisted MSMEs made presentations on March 11 and 12, 2021 from 10:00 AM till 1:00 PM. 

The Jury selected 6 best case study presentations out of the 21 finalist MSMEs. 

The 6 best MSMEs were felicitated with trophies and certificates on March 12, 2021. 

Other finalists received special mementos along with certificates. 

Effort of the applicants, who could not make it to the final rounds, was also recognized and they were complimented with mementos and certificates.

Speakers at the Conclave 

• Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry 
• Mr. Debkumar Basu, Chairperson, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber
• Mr. Sanjay S Sahni, Chief of Marketing & Sales - Branded Products, Tata Steel
• Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited
• Mr. Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman & CEO, PRAN-RFL Group, Bangladesh
• Mr. Takashi Suzuki, Director General, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
• Mr. Tapas Dasgupta, Senior Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber; Partner, Sys Pro Solutions Inc. and Former Country Manager - India, Wabtec Corporation 
• Mr. Abraham Stephanos, President Designate, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Managing Director, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited
• Mr. K. K. Sai, Senior Vice President – Retail (Marketing), Berger Paints India Limited
• Dr. Sujatha Narayan, Managing Director, Faiveley Transport and Regional Vice President, Wabtec Corporation India
• Ms. Smita Pandit Chakraborty, Managing Director, Phoenix Conveyor Belts India (P) Ltd – Conveying Solutions , Continental AG
• Mr. Bimal Sarkar, Immediate Former Managing Director, Imerys Steelcasting India Private Limited and Senior Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber
• Dr. Rajesh Khosla, Vice President - Manufacturing  (Industrial), Exide Industries Limited
• Mr. P.K. Wilson Purty, Chief of Marketing, ECA Business, Tata Steel Limited
• Dr. Arpan Pal, Chief Scientist & Head, Embedded Systems & Robotics, Tata Consultancy Services Innovation Lab 
• Mr. Avnish Kumar, Founder & CEO, LivNSense Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore 
• Mr. P. Rajagopalan, Managing Director, Primo Automation, Chennai
• Mr. Pranab Chandra, Chairman, Mukharochak
• Mr. Pratik Chandra, Director, Mukharochak
• Mr. Sanjay Behera, Chief – Sales Manager, Tata Steel Limited, and Co-chairperson – Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber
• Mr. Samujjal Ganguly, President, Navitas Green Solutions Private Limited 
• Mr. Animesh Biswas, Assistant Vice President (Government, Academic and Health), Dbaux Technologies   
• Mr. Debashish Banerjee, CEO, Fabricast Equipment
• Mr. Aniruddha Lahiri, Founder Chairman, Trishul Engineering Solutions Private Limited
• Mr.Aloke Mookherjea, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman, Howden Solyvent (India) Private Limited
• Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Founder and Senior Partner, Intueri Consulting LLP
• Mr. Indrajit Sen, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Managing Director, International Combustion (India) Limited
• Dr. Anjan Ghosh, Senior Advisor, Centre of Excellence for MSMEs, The Bengal Chamber, Expert in TQM, TPM, 6 Sigma, Lean Management, Strategic Management, Business Excellence, Human Resource Development and Former Vice President - Total Quality Management, Exide Industries 
• Mr. C.R. Maitra, Senior Member, Manufacturing and MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Expert in APQP, TQM, PBE, BBSC, QPD, DoE, FMEA, DFA
• Mr. Swarnabha Bandopadhyay, Director, Bongs Prayukti
• Mr. Jayanta Saha, Founder and CEO, Lintas Packaging
• Mr. Shovankar Roy, Founder-Director, Trent Corporation 
• Mr. Rabin Roy, Founder and CEO, Sustiknow 

Mr. Subrata Saha, Director, Saha Steel, Director, Saha Steel Private Limited and Member, Manufacturing & MSME Committee, The Bengal Chamber