New Delhi : A special panel discussion was organized by Event & Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), at FICCI Federation House, Mandi House, Delhi. The objective of this panel discussion was to engage with government policies and work in tandem with policymakers. Sh. Piyush Srivastava (additional Development Commissioner) MSME and Shri Vijay Kumar, Director Ministry of MSME were the chief panelist along with Sanjoy Roy, President – EEMA.
Sanjeev Pasricha – Executive Vice President, Vipul Pandhi – Vice President North- EEMA, Suresh Goel -Director-General EEMA and Lalit Gattani – EEMA member and CEO Show craft Productions Pvt.Ltd were the other distinguished panelists.
Besides rapid growth, the event industry in India is also undergoing important transformation by becoming a partner in the development of India Brand. There are several incentives which the Government gives to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), both in Government projects and non-Government business which make it attractive for MSMEs to enroll themselves.
EEMA held this panel discussion to engage and get the insightful information on the policy and support from the Government of India and address any areas of concerns which the members may have faced.
Acknowledging the concerns of EEMA members Piyush Srivastava, Additional Development Commissioner MSME said, “It was a very insightful session for us as well, these type of platform should be organized more frequently as it will help us in understanding the sector in a much better way. As far as the policies are concern there are various schemes which EEMA member or event agencies can avail. There is a need to create awareness about such schemes and policies. Therefore I would like to suggest EEMA governing council to spread the word among them and ask the members to enroll under the MSME to get the benefits of the schemes”.
Talking on the issue of MSME policies Sanjoy Roy, President – EEMA said, “The potential of events and entertainment sector is enormous as over 30,000 people are employed in this sector and through allied business more than 300,000 people earn their livelihood. We have the resource; we create jobs and contribute to the GDP. We are here to figure out how together we can make things better. And for the very reason, we request the government to support the event sector and provide an equal level playing field to all the players from the sector. We urge the government to keep our requirements and suggestions in mind while framing the policies for the MSME sector.
Addressing the EEMA members during the discussion Vijay Kumar, Director, Ministry of MSME said, “Through this session, we understood the difficulties that event companies are facing while applying for the bank loans and availing various government schemes. I would like to suggest EEMA to establish a design center which can act as a medium between the companies and the government. We are ready to host a session in which we would like EEMA members to meet the banks so that can avail the financial benefits under the MSME policy”.
As per the data are shown by Ernst and Young in 2018, Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector in India grew by 13% to reach Rs. 1.67 Trillion in 2017 and out of this the live entertainment sector including experiential and MICE areas which EEMA represents grew by 15.6%. The total Event industry revenue in India is estimated to grow to Rs. 86 billion in 2019 from over Rs 75 billion in 2018. Therefore helping the economy to grow and making the Event Industry good contributors in the vision of honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making India into a 5 trillion economy by 2024.
