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TV NEXT,
Mumbai: India’s biggest SME awards, ET NOW- IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2012 concluded in a glittering ceremony at the Taj Palace, New Delhi on December 13, 2012. It was a sight to behold as luminaries from the political and corporate fraternity came together to give away awards to the deserving winners.
The Chief Guest for the evening was Anand Sharma, Honorable Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, along with the Guest of Honor Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises.
In the opening note, Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com, said, “I share with immense pride that Leaders of Tomorrow is now India’s biggest SME Awards.” Highlighting the need of better road infrastructure & uninterrupted power for SMEs apart from simplification of taxes, he urged the government to take these on priority. He added, “Today, we work with more than a million SMEs and help them grow their business. By enabling transactions worth Rs. 10,000 cr for them, we estimate to have helped them generate additional employment for about 100,000 people – and all of this without any financial assistance, in a self-sustainable manner.”
The ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks by Avinash Kaul, CEO, ET NOW, TIMES NOW and ZoOm who said, “This season has been a tough one for the jury for them to shortlist and identify the best SMEs from an overwhelming 75000 entries received from all across the country; I wish to congratulate all the Leaders of Tomorrow for coming this far through a rigorous selection process and we hope to see their businesses grow from strength to strength. We deeply value our long standing partnership with IndiaMart in nurturing entrepreneurship and rewarding excellence through the Leaders of Tomorrow Awards.”
Applauding the winners during his address, Anand Sharma, Honorable Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, talked about the measures that the Government is taking to help SMEs function better. He emphasized the importance of SMEs in the nation’s economy & reaffirmed that SMEs have been given their pride of place and the government has taken steps such as cutting down on red tape, invoking a provision for the first time to remove multiple level approval, amongst others.
A panel discussion on Building a New India: Empowering SMEs for Sustainable Growth saw the likes of Jay Panda, Vikram Bakshi, Shivinder Mohan Singh, Vineet Nayar, Suneeta Reddy and Pramod Bhasin expressing their viewpoints and opininion on opportunities and challenges faced by SMEs, how SMEs help large corporates, simplification of regulations etc.
Getting candid with the audience, Sunil Bharti Mittal shared his personal experience of being an SME and rising upto the level his enterprise is at today. He further remarked, “We are the Leaders of today and may become Leader of past but you are the Leaders of Tomorrow.”