Why in news?
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME) is holding district‑level workshops across India to onboard five lakh micro and small enterprises onto the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) under its new Trade Enablement and Marketing (TEAM) Initiative. The scheme was launched in June 2024 and is now being actively rolled out, with particular emphasis on women‑owned businesses.
Background
The TEAM Initiative is a sub‑scheme of the Raising and Accelerating MSME Productivity (RAMP) programme, a World Bank–supported central sector scheme aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of India’s micro, small and medium enterprises. TEAM seeks to harness the rapidly growing digital commerce ecosystem by helping small businesses sell their products online through ONDC, a government‑backed open protocol that connects buyers and sellers across different platforms.
Objectives and key features
- Outlay and duration: The initiative has a budgetary outlay of ₹277.35 crore and runs for three years (financial years 2024–25 to 2026–27).
- Implementing agency: The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) serves as the nodal agency responsible for executing the scheme and coordinating with state governments, industry bodies and ONDC.
- Target beneficiaries: The scheme aims to support five lakh micro and small enterprises, at least half of which must be women‑owned. Eligible participants are Udyam‑registered manufacturing and service enterprises across India.
- Capacity building: NSIC conducts workshops—especially in Tier‑II and Tier‑III cities and MSME clusters—to create awareness about e‑commerce and to train entrepreneurs in catalogue creation, digital marketing, logistics management, online dispute resolution and the use of digital payment systems.
- Onboarding support: The scheme provides financial incentives to Seller Network Participants (SNPs) on ONDC to onboard MSMEs. Subsidies are available for creating ONDC‑compliant digital catalogues (up to ₹2,500 per enterprise), account management (up to ₹5,000 per enterprise), logistics and packaging.
- Demand generation: Funds are set aside to support digital marketing campaigns and buyer‑side incentives to increase visibility and generate orders for participating MSMEs.
- Language and inclusivity: Digital tools and training materials are offered in multiple Indian languages to ensure accessibility for entrepreneurs with limited English proficiency.
Significance
- Digital empowerment: By lowering the barriers to entry in e‑commerce, TEAM helps small enterprises tap into national and global markets, boosting sales and income.
- Women’s entrepreneurship: The mandatory 50 percent focus on women‑owned enterprises aims to close gender gaps in business and promote inclusive growth.
- Support for local economies: Workshops and subsidies encourage MSMEs in smaller towns to adopt digital tools, fostering balanced regional development.
- Leveraging digital infrastructure: The initiative complements other government programmes such as Udyam registration, the Digital MSME scheme and PM Vishwakarma, creating synergies within the MSME ecosystem.
Conclusion
The Trade Enablement and Marketing Initiative exemplifies how government schemes can harness digital public infrastructure to uplift small businesses. By helping MSMEs adopt e‑commerce, improving their branding and logistics and focusing on women entrepreneurs, the scheme aims to build a more resilient and inclusive MSME sector in the coming years.
