Indian MSME’S E-Readiness in the Digital Economy: A Case Study of Coir Industry

Abstract

The Indian MSME’s often lacks knowledge about the latest innovations and technologies that are available in the global market. And even if they are aware, they either are ill-equipped to deploy it in regular business operations or facing resource crunch to procure it at the first place. This study mainly focuses on the level of e-readiness of the Indian MSME sector in the wake of rapidly evolving digital era. The study is further divided into two sub-parts: Firstly, it covers the key performance metrics of the Indian Coir industry and outlines the importance of technology to boost the competitiveness of the sector; Secondly, it summarizes the challenges or hindrances faced by the MSME sector to achieve full scale digitalization and offers policy prescriptions that can aid MSME’s achieve higher growth and profitability. The paper arrives at the conclusion that the following factors will help differentiate MSME’s at home and abroad: export competitiveness, technological usage, superior human resources, labour productivity, advanced knowledge and skills, marketing services, availability of sufficient credit, regulatory support etc.