ET Business Growth Summit in Mumbai showcases ideas and innovations driving business growth

Innovation, entrepreneurship, and the ability to scale businesses amid challenges were some of the themes that came up for discussion during the ET Business Growth Summit in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, held on October 9. The summit brought together industry stakeholders to deliberate on ideas powering the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.

The event started with a keynote address by Deependra Singh Kushwah (IAS), CEO, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), who spoke on the MSME diversity in Maharashtra. “We have 12 million registered MSMEs in Maharashtra on the Udyam portal. These MSMEs provide employment to almost 25 million people in the state,” he said.

Kushwah also highlighted the increasing investments in the state, noting that Pune is emerging as India’s new GCC capital. “We have received interest of $250 billion for data centres in and around Mumbai. Nashik will now emerge as a new defence production hub as it's strategically located. These are some of the investment stories happening in Maharashtra,” he added.

Next was a fireside chat with C.S. Arya, GM, IDBI Bank, who discussed tailored schemes available for MSMEs.

This was followed by an AI Masterclass by Sreeraman Thiagarajan, Co-Founder, Agrahyah, on using AI for business growth and market expansion.

Next up, a panel discussion, “Disrupt, Adapt, Scale: The New Playbook for Business Growth”, which highlighted brands’ journeys in identifying a market gap, adapting to market fit, and scaling up. Talking about the initial phase, Ravi Saxena, Founder and CEO, Wonderchef, said, “Before launching Wonderchef, we visited over 200 homes to watch people cook. Solving real daily struggles created our first hit product, a mini chopper,” he said, reflecting on how simple day-to-day issues led to addressing ideas.

Talking about his company’s journey, Satish Wagh, Chairman, Supriya Lifescience, said that their company has a 22,000 sq. ft R&D center with 240 employees. “We export to 148 countries with 1,750 customers all over. It took me 40 years to reach here. For me, there was no AI; AI was my brain,” he said.

Mrinal Sharma, Co-Founder of Flipspaces, spoke of the challenges in the design and build space. “It has struggled with the same issues for decades. By leveraging gaming-engine technology, tech-driven design platforms automate real-time 3D space planning and solve costly project delays,” he said.

Moving on their scaling journey, Shreevar Kheruka, Managing Director of Borosil Ltd, said change was thrust upon them by default. “Having done that, we now have a whole new gamut of products we can make,” he said, explaining that when importing became unviable, Borosil built a top-tier domestic steel manufacturing plant in under 12 months.

Change and disruption must happen, but not just for the sake of it, Amar Dixit, CEO of WOI India. “True start-up innovation comes from challenging traditional models to add genuine value and optimise operations,” he said.

This was followed by a masterclass led by Amit Kumar - SME IPO Coach, Investor, Founder @ MSMEx & GrobizFund, who spoke on ‘The SME Capital Playbook—From Debt to Equity to the Capital Markets.’

The final segment of the event featured a grand felicitation ceremony honouring entrepreneurs Ravi Saxena, Founder and CEO of Wonderchef; Satish Wagh, Chairman of Supriya Life Science Ltd; Mrinal Sharma, Co-Founder of Flipspaces; Shreevar Kheruka, Managing Director of Borosil Ltd; and Amar Dixit, CEO of WOI India, who were recognised as ET Business Icons.

This marked the conclusion of the event, enabling many enterprises to understand how mindset, ability to innovate and rising to challenges can help brands achieve success. The Mumbai edition of the ET Business Growth Summit was sponsored by IDBI Bank as the Banking Partner, MIDC as State Partner and Enterprise Solutions by Thakral Enterprise.