KOCHI: US-based financial services corporation American Express (also known as Amex) will focus on the SME sector for growth in India. The sector has been the growth driver for the past five years for Amex, said Saru Kaushal, V-P and general manager, Global Corporate Payments, American Express while speaking to Express regarding the American Express Global SME Pulse 2017 study, which was released recently.
With the Indian economy expected to emerge as one of the leading economies in the world and likely to become a $5 lakh crore economy by 2025, a major impetus is being given to strengthen the SME sector, the backbone of the country’s economy, she added. The study was carried out among senior executives and decision-makers across 15 countries.
“As per the survey, Indian SMEs are more positive about the domestic economy over the next 12 months than their Asian counterparts. India led with 71 per cent followed by Japan (62 per cent), China (54 per cent), and Singapore (26 per cent). Interestingly, the confidence of Asian countries is substantially higher than the global average of 45 per cent,” she said.
As per the research, most Indian SMEs understand the growing importance of technology and want to make investments in the same. “About 77 per cent of Indian SMEs felt the importance of applying the latest technology in their businesses over the next three years. Understanding the need of being on track with technological advancements, 75 per cent of Indian SMEs plan to use more scalable technology, like cloud-based solutions in the next three years,” Kaushal said.
Amex wants to focus on South India — because it has huge growth potential. The company has 10.06 lakh credit cards and 23,816 point of sale (PoS) terminals across the country as on March 31, 2017.