It is found that the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India are still shying away from using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to introduce efficiencies. Most of the MSMEs like play schools, business partners, florists and many others are savvy about using the Internet for marketing.
A Google India study revealed that 57 percent of the surveyed SMEs had been using their websites for sales channels and had got direct business leads. As per the Implications for MSMEs report for FICCI, in the Vision 2020, consulting firm Grant Thornton has quoted that 73% of Indian MSMEs have their own websites and 99% of MSMEs use online B2B (Business to Business) market places to generate business. According to the MSME committee, the ICT exposure is still inadequate. As there are over 35 million SMEs in India that produce Rs. 20 lakh crore of goods and services every year, there has to be lot more development in using the Internet. They also lack certain skills like marketing the website, optimizing search engine ranking etc.
Indian SMEs are also increasing their spending on the Internet. According to IAMAI report, 45 percent of the total annual marketing budget of the Indian MSMEs is spent online. According to the Google India report, the SMEs sector with marketing spends of between Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 70 lakh per year tend to spend more on online medium. But most of the online spending (43%) was observed from SMEs who spend between Rs 12 and Rs 25 lakh on advertising on an annual basis.
It was even observed that SMEs from services, manufacturing and export vertical had been more active in online advertising and over 65 percent of them had been using search engine marketing. Though most SMEs are found to use digital tools for marketing, they need to still focus on using ICT to become more efficient.