The Bhopal Management Association (BMA) is a part of All India Management Association (AIMA), New Delhi – the apex Management body of the country. The BMA chapter under AIMA was established in the year 2006. The core objective and vision of this association is to provide a platform to the people of Bhopal to empower the management studies, to provide solutions and suggestions to various industries through various colleges. The association collaborates with various industries and educational institutions for upskilling the management and leadership as well as to promote professional ethics to get the improved output of the workforce.

In conversation with Cyber Media Research, Mr Pradeep Karamkelkar, Chairman, The Bhopal

Management Association speaks on the achievements and development of SMEs in Madhya Pradesh. Edited excerpts.  

1. Over the last few years, what are the technological advancement and adoption by SMEs in Madhya Pradesh?  

As per our understanding of the industries and our state as a whole we are one of the youngest states with an average age of 27. There is a geographical benefit of being at the centre of the country where logistics are comparatively convenient so the businesses and government are thinking of Madhya Pradesh as one of the operational and implementation partners that can be robust in supporting various industries and businesses. We are working towards this direction only, also our cities are developing towards taking bigger outsourcing projects because of the presence of an efficient and affordable workforce. The education system follows the standard format for employability. 

We are associated with major companies such as BHEL, EICHER, Vardhaman Textiles Ltd and more. We have seen these companies adapting to new technologies and undergoing various advancements. Similarly, SMEs in the food manufacturing sector are moving towards the adoption of new digital technologies to utilize the existing resource to the maximum capacity. 

We have two industrial associations Mandideep and Govindpura.

The best thing happened during the COVID-19 times or first lockdown, at Mandideep region where we have almost 2000 different manufacturing units or plants whose combined turnover is in Crores. We haven’t seen the labour migration while most of the operations were on hold, The Mandideep Association didn’t let that happen in our state. I think that we have handled the situation very well in that sense as not a single labour was laid off from the work. 

We won’t say we are highly into heavy industries only, or hub for technologies, we are a blend of everything. But yes, surely we would see some technoparks and IT parks developing in coming years. Also, we would see clusters for electronic goods, electric vehicles etc. 

2. How are SMEs performing in Madhya Pradesh?

SMEs are going very fast and in the right direction, we are developing as a hub for outsourcing. We aren’t saying that much innovation would come in Madhya Pradesh in the next couple of years but we are going to become a great support system for operations and outsourcing for bigger companies. Made in India or Made in Madhya Pradesh would boom wherein manufacturing of products could be outsourced to us because of the environment and land facility available in the state. Also, the government is providing various investment schemes for SMEs and I think they are fairly doing good. 

3. What are BMA’s expectations from the government for the development of Small Medium Enterprises in the state? 

We aren’t into policy advocacy for the government, our main focus area is skill enhancement, leadership development, skill development at large with our various stakeholders like colleges, universities, SMEs, Industrial bodies, and students from the management stream. We rarely interact with government bodies. We have almost 400 members at The Bhopal Management Association at present including industrialists, business owners, professionals, academicians, corporate members and so on. We expect to have a robust system for high skill development.

4. Any specific segment that is booming in the state? Please tell us about it. Is it in technology, manufacturing or other categories? 

For the last 6 years consistently Madhya Pradesh is the best state for Agriculture, we have beat Punjab for wheat production. We are also following the ‘one product – one district’ rule, every city has one product specifically. For example Guavas for Bhopal, potato for Indore etc. So, food processing and agriculture, these two sectors are booming in the state. Also, the upcoming sectors would be electronic vehicles and solar energy.  

5. What are the key plans of the association? Is there any specific region you are planning to expand in? Which industry is more focused in Madhya Pradesh

We are solely working towards the enhancement of skills in management and leadership streams, we have recently launched a certificate course for SMEs and MSMEs while doing a job or planning for entrepreneurship. This is a six months’ online certificate course of minimal fees of 25 K. We are also coming up with a coffee table book called ‘Volunteers of Bhopal’. We are also planning to start a management journal for BMA so that research papers can be published.