Small businesses, big success stories

CHENNAI: The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) on Sunday launched a book chronicling the success stories of small businesses here.The book ‘Path Breakers’ chronicling the experiences of entrepreneurs in their businesses, was released on the fifth anniversary of ‘Paathai, Payanam, Paarvai’, a monthly interactive meeting series of the SJM for the small and medium enterprises.  Ashwani Mahajan, member, steering committee, SJM, released the book, which was received by Gopal Srinivasan, Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds Ltd, S Gurumurthy, national co-convenor of the SJM, besides several others.Eleven successful entrepreneurs including P Ganapathi, Patricia Narayanan and Mohammed Ayub Khan, were awarded on the occasion. A trust devoted to honing the skills of entrepreneurs was also launched.Felicitating the entrepreneurs, Gopal Srinivasan said India’s economic growth in the next two decades will be driven by small and medium enterprises. “Currently, our GDP is $1.5 trillion. In 2025, it will grow by six times. The gap between the present and future will be filled by small and medium enterprises.” In his address, Gurumurthy traced the spirited fight of Indian multi-national Tata to break stereotypes and said that Indian enterprises lacked the requisite resources to be successful in a globalised era. A multitude of small businesses in the country like the ones in Rajkot and Ludhiana had proved that they could be highly successful despite challenges. The personal savings of Indian families continued to be a significant strength of the Indian economy, he noted.“An estimate says that India would need $1.7 trillion for developing infrastructure. However, we will not need even a single dollar from outside, as the country’s savings is more than sufficient to fund this initiative,” he added.