Bill Gates met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian leaders, discussing technology, innovation, and sustainability. They reviewed collaborations between India and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in healthcare, AI, and agriculture. Gates highlighted India’s progress and its global impact, emphasizing advancements in maternal health, immunization, and sanitation achieved through their partnership.
India’s thriving micro, small, and medium enterprise sector is in for a special day come March 20, with the grand finale of the ET MSME Awards 2024. Now in its fifth edition, this Economictimes.com initiative — the only one of its kind in India that rewards exceptional MSMEs — received over 15,000 applications from enterprises jostling for due recognition across 22 categories.
The grand felicitation will be held at the ITC Maurya, New Delhi. Registrations start at 5:00 pm onwards. On the anvil is a day of networking, presentations, and celebrations that will culminate into a dinner, wrapping up months of frenzied preparations leading up to India’s biggest MSME awards.
The proceedings will begin at 5:30 pm with a welcome address by ET Digital Editor Deepak Ajwani, followed by an inaugural keynote address. The keynote will be delivered by Pravin Khandelwal, Member of Parliament and Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). Among other themes, Mr Khandelwal’s address will touch upon the indispensability of the MSME sector, which employs over 261 million people and accounts for nearly 46% of India’s total exports.
This year’s ET MSME Awards has 101 nominees, from which 18 will be announced as winners after the keynote. The first category in contention are the industry-focussed awards, which comprise:
- Automobile & OEM MSME of the Year
- Pharmaceutical & Healthcare MSME of the Year
- Electrical & Electronics MSME of the Year
- Clothing & Apparel MSME of the Year
Post the reveal for the industry-focussed awards, Subhransu Sekhar Acharya, Chairman and Managing Director, National Small Industries Corporation Ltd, will deliver a special address to attendees. Mr Acharya has more than three decades of experience in all things MSME including risk management, strategy, and financing.
Between 6:20-6:40 pm, the host will announce the winners for the special awards: Top-performing Listed Indian SME and Indian MSME Women Entrepreneur of the Year. The latter will felicitate a women entrepreneur or woman-led company, each in the micro, small, and medium category.
A panel event will follow the special awards felicitations. This insightful discussion, featuring ET MSME Awards 2024 jurists Joyshree Das Verma (FICCI FLO) and Anil Bhardwaj (FISME), will revolve around current US economic policy. The theme is ‘Tariff disruptions: How companies can counter current global uncertainties’.
From 7:15-7:45 pm, winners will be announced for India’s Top Innovative MSME and India’s Fastest-growing MSME, across micro, small, and medium categories.
Rakesh Singh, Managing Director and CEO, Aditya Birla Finance Ltd, will then engage in a fireside chat with ET Digital Editor Deepak Ajwani.
The rest of the gala evening, from 7:55-8:50 pm, will reveal the remaining winners from the following award categories: India’s Top Exporter of the Year (Manufacturing, Service, Trading), Indian MSME Enabler (Banking & Finance and Tech & Innovation), and Indian MSME of the Year (Manufacturing, Service, Trading). Following a vote of thanks and photo opportunities for winners and programme partners, attendees will make their way to dinner and subsequent opportunities to engage and network with the who’s who of India’s MSME sector.
Aditya Birla Finance Limited is the presenting partner for the ET MSME Awards 2024. The New India Assurance Company Limited is the insurance partner, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is the state partner, and CareEdge Ratings is the evaluation partner.
