SME Overview and Evolution

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered the pillars of Indian economy. As per 2021 data, SMEs contribute nearly 27% to India’s GDP by generating employment and contribution to exports. Statistically SMEs in India employ nearly 40% of India’s workforce and contribute 45% to India’s manufacturing output and 40% to India’s total exports. India is powered by the silent revolution happening in the SMEs space. Nearly with 48 million SMEs, India is ranked at number twoin the world, just after China with 50 million SMEs.
SMEs are key to the US$ 5 trillion Indian economy but one the significant constraints that SMEs face is, limited access to finance and lack of funds is the main reason for SMEs to go out of business.
In the recent past, the SMEs were not able to access the Capital Markets through Stock Exchanges due to several factors, such as stringent regulatory, financial and compliance disclosure requirements.
To help the SMEs to have an easy access to Capital Markets, without much regulatory requirements, SME Exchange was launched by BSE and NSE. Getting listed on SME Stock Exchanges, the SMEs can access to Capital Markets easily, quickly and at lesser cost.