Shri Sudhir K. Garg, IRSEE
Joint. Secretary (MSME),Ministry of Micro, Small&Medium Enterprises, Govt of India.

It’s a wonderful morning. It is nice to interact and nice to see a small group where we can really have a good interaction. Thanks to the Bombay Chamber of Commerce for making this such an important point bringing it to the forefront and the way this chamber is a very old, I think 183 years old ? That’s wonderful. So bringing this thing in the forefront is very important.

How many of us have not benefited from mediation? Road rage, which is very normal in this country, cities, Delhi , Mumbai, every day we face road rage and how many of us has taken benefit of mediation during road rage? Atleast I have taken benefit of road rage many numbers of times. And you also hear lots of stories like ‘ uss ladai mein ek vayakti mara gaya , road rage ke durghatna mein’. Why? Because there is no mediation present there. Whenever there is a mediator present on the road, you ultimately end up sorting out the dispute. So that means that mediation which is natural to us, we Indians have a natural tendency to mediate chahe wo family dispute ho chahe wo kisi bhi tkism ke dispute hon. So mediation is natural to us like Green Economy is natural to us. We as Indians have been progressing in many ways, and now in green economcy which has not been taught to us by the western world, ki aap ye kijiye-ye kijiye. Aap environment ko ese protect kijiye. So mediation is again natural to us, we have been brought up, grown in that kind of environment. We are learning it that, this is the way to sort out our disputes. The way economies are growing we also have to look at how not to fall in the trap of disputes. Now how many of you are SMEs here or businessmen? So do we agree that dispute is the problem to the business. If that is the case, then let’s analyse why do we have disputes. So I fully agree that there is a method of dispute resolution and we have been throwing some light on that. But, I want to see the other side. As an analyst can we have a mechanism or can we work on reducing the causes of disputes itself. It’s like when you are getting your children marry, you try see aree iss sher mein nahi krna, yahan ke log na bada … toh it means the cities, states , countries – they get labelled. I want to do business with every Gujrati because yahan par dispute nahi hota. I want to do business with Maharashtra because they have a mechanism, they are ready to re consulate, they understand each other and they do not fall under the trap of dispute. So it means, we also have to look at why we have disputes. Let’s say, so as a business man if I am supplying to another company- maybe a larger company, maybe a smaller company- what can be the cause of dispute. I supplied x item , I am not getting paid. Why? Because I say, I supplied in time. He says no. You had delayed the supplies. Then I say, no no, I supplied right time. You in the last minute changed some specifications. You change the quantities and things like that. Do we have faced these kind of things? So now, what are the solutions?

Today, last minute changes in the supply orders are happening day in-day out. Are we facing that challenge or not? What are the solutions? Can you suggest some solutions out of that? So I think technology is the solution. Today, on the shop floor , I get a message that reduce this quantity- increase this quantity, so then I immediately share this with my people on the shop floor and make necessary changes. So there is a need for us , particularly in the Assamese side, to introduce technology for various solutions. I give example of a very small thing. Lean Manufacturing. How many of you are adopting or doing the practices of lean manufacturing? Are you aware of the Lean manufacturing? Now, can you share what are the benefits you accrue from the Lean manufacturing? (speakers)

So Lean Manufacturing really re-shapes your company. And I was in Pune last month, and I was talking to some firms out there. So the gentlemen said that after the Lean manufacturing the telephone has stopped ringing. What a great change. He says now all the time, all the time to work- think differently. My people on the shop floor and all the people in the business out there, they are fully empowered. They are able to sort out all the issues. So if you are able to resolve your issues within the organisation, then you will be able to move ahead. Dispute in the ogranisation like- no sir ye toh saman aana tha , aya nahi abhi tak, usne mjhe saman diya nahi sir. And people in the factory really , enjoy throwing problem to their bosses. You know, aaj toh isko maa chkhate hain acha sa. Ye bada smart smjhta hai apne aap ko. Hm? So they’ll come with a beautiful problem. I remember when I was in Badodra , so one leader, very powerful – he can say sir bandh krdo kaam, to kaam bandh hojayega, chalu krna chalu hojayega. He said, sir ye toh kaam ho bhi gaya , hame btaya nahi kisi ne. Toh maine kaha isse ulajhana bada mushkil kaam hai, ye toh leader hai – ham toh ulajh jayenge, fas jayenge, kaam bandh hojayega. Maine kaha aao toh inte powerful ho, ke chidiya bhi apke apke approval ke bina aate nahi jate nahi, toh he felt very powerful. He said han bhai ye toh hamare izat krte hain. So he immediately said han han saab koi baat nahi. That was how it was handled. Disputes mein there is this thing called ego of the disputes. If I am a big firm and there is another firm , which is a small firm, ye kya macchar hai ? mere se baat krta hai?

So all these things, if you’re able to bring somebody, a mediator. A mediator will create value for both the sides. The big pie, sometimes I and you are not able to see because we are just involved in smaller day-to-day games. So I have a right mediator, then he brings a bigger pie for me, both sides are shown additional values. Both sides are shown the lost opportunity which may really bring them lots of businesses, improve their earnings and value. So this is a key role, I think a mediator can really do if we can create a bigger pie, not only the small thing. Today if I dispute with him, I know the business with him is jeopardized. But not only with her/him, with more people will the business be done away with. Because if my reputation in the company becomes like, he is a company which is business oriented, iske sath business krna bhi dispute krna hai. If that kind of reputation is created of me, I am doomed, I have lost all business. So coming back to the main point: how can we reduce the disputes- technology is the key. There is a tendency in us to supply materials, ki ye toh chalta hai 2-4 piece isme kharab hojayenge toh koi scene nahi hai. And here we get stuck, the new era today you can’t afford to supply anything which is inferior. So we have to change our mindset. If we have a contract out between you and me, we must follow that. So these issues, while mindset is there, is an issue but we have to introduce technology for various things. And that is why we understand that these process changes in organisation, introduction of various technological tools are key for development of new solution. But, their development as a whole. The whole eco-system changes. And that is why this ministry is investing hugely on proliferating on these technological solutions or the solutions which really improve your processes. So Lean Manufacturing is one scheme, other is the ZED (Zero Effect-Zero Defect). So once I adopt the philosophy of zero defects, it means my reputation is that, I supply quality products. My business grows and you know it’s a mindset because I know that. There is a wonderful story: there are two factories, in one factory there was disfaith between the management and the staff. And the staff all the time felt that unless they fight for small things, those won’t be sorted out. And there was another factory where the staff used to feel that, all the issues will be sorted out by the management, if they’re logical. So, a small experiment was done. In the wintertime, they broke some glasses out there. And obviously when the glass is broken the cold air is coming in. and both the factories did the same thing. So immediately in one factory where the dispute resolution , mechanism was not proper, cool down happened. And in the other factory nothing happened. So this person who is doing experiment, he went to both the factories and said” areey apke yahan toh glass tuta hua,thanda aarha, aap toh kuch kar nahi rhe, aap toh kaam kre jarhe” and he said “ nahi nahi saab management bada hoshiyar hai. They will do it, don’t worry. We know that. They’ll take care of us.” In other factory within one hour, of the broken glass, the cool down was there. So it means, correct faith has to be developed. So lets say , if I am a ZED verified, so then I am making a statement, and the people who are doing business with me , know that this company has much higher standards, and even if they make a mistake, once in a while, they’ll be allowed to make mistakes, and they’ll be allowed to rectify them. So here gain we are able to resolve and remove the causes of dispute and we enter into new paradigm.

So these are few of the thoughts I was having: so we also need to look at why disputes happen? How can we work towards reducing those causes of disputes. And this is very important for any organisation or any society to really grow. We as India want to be globally number 1 in business and how can we be , if we create an environment, if we create a feeling across the world that we are those people normally do not fall in the trap of disputes and we also know how to resolve those disputes. Then obviously we will be the preferred business partner and the globalisation today , and the MSMEs are the backbone and the backbone can happen only when , we really really look at the problem and we try to sort out the problem.

Today the government, the honourable Prime Minister talking in every forum about MSMEs. He has given many schemes for the MSMEs. It is not only one area but the entire eco system we are looking for the MSMEs so that they can grow and once they grow, the supply chain can grow. Even for the large industry to be competitive the MSMEs have to stay competitive. Because MSMEs supply to the large industry and the large industry supply to the globe and all that. And ofcourse the MSMEs also directly supply to the globally. So with that thing in mind we are open to the ideas. The act provides some ideas for making payment to the MSMEs in 45 days and things like that. We know that its challenging to get payment in 45 days. Sometimes we don’t want to fall in the trap, say ki abhi koi disoute raise krenge toh kalse ye dhandha dena bandh krdega. So we created a platform called ‘Samadhan’. This is an initiative of the ministry and particularly by the present secretary Dr. Anu Kumar Panda under the leadership of Honourable minister. Samadhan is a platform. How many of you use Samadhan and how was it ? (very good) A lot of people say ke sir Samadhan mein jayenge toh CPSE walle pareshan krenge, so what is your reaction to that? So once you go to the Samadhan, it is a portal and obviously the CPSE would not be happy about their visibility like they are not good business partners. So did you find any flake from the CPSE? Not at all, good.

So Samadhan is a portal which is primarily for central government, PSUs related problems if they are not making payments then you can resort to Samadhan and raise the dispute out there and we find that the people who use Samadhan- immediately get the solution, immediately get the payments , immediately the solutions are created for them. So this is one.

And facilitation council that is being talked about. So facilitation counsil is another provision that we made and I think in every state a facilitation counsil are working and I would like to know any suggestions to improve on that , any challenges. Yes, we know that there are long queues and delays are happening sometimes and they can very well take help of other methods. Facilitation counsil is the mechanism of mediation and we would like to improve on those kind of things and we would like to you if you have any challenges regarding it.

The one very interesting point that Mr. Ramesh ji raised that, of knowledge. And then we have people in whom we have faith in, like the lawyers, CAs and sometimes they like to keep the knowledge to themselves. And I will share a small experience. I bought a small flat and I was not getting the refund out of that. So I met my friend, lawyer and he said don’t worry about it. So somebody told me this RERA has also happened, so just look at the RERA. Then I started to read about it in detail and I found my solution. I met the RERA chairman and he said aap toh idhr aaye aap udhr kahan jarhe hain? And then I realised when I started looking into it, that RERA is a very good solution. So my friend was taking me to someother route which was preferred route for him but I think there was a better method available and he might be aware of it but he decided to keep the information to himself. So I am really thankful to this organisation which is sharing the benefit across the society and I give one suggestion, if you can create 1-2 documents we have around 60lakh MSMEs registered with us under UDYOG memorandum. We can share the information with them immediately. And we can also do it, if you say, 1 pager or 2 pager small documents, all the time we can share it with them. So this will help in disseminating the information very quickly.

So that’s all. We would like to work for MSMEs, we love MSMEs, we want to support them and we consider them very important for us.