FICCI, Google India announce winners of SME Heroes Challenge

MUMBAI, INDIA: Google India in association with FICCI announced the winners of the first-ever India SME Heroes Challenge, an award that celebrates SMEs who have used to Internet to grow and expand their businesses in innovative ways.

An independent jury selected three winners from a list of 10 finalists with the help of distinguished judges Amarendra Sinha, Addl. Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Government of India, A. K. Kapur, Head - International Cooperation, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Michel Botzung, Global Business Lead- SMEs, International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), Manoj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angel Network.

The winner of Google FICCI SME Heroes is: Crimson Interactive Pvt. Ltd.

1st Runner-up: Expert Rating

2nd Runner-up: Fabulloso

Congratulating the winners of India SME Heroes Challenge, Rajan Anandan, VP & MD of Google India, said: "No developing country with fast growing economy can rely only on its big companies to achieve sustainable growth, and these businesses are leading the way for small Indian business looking to go big online."

"In the last five years, Internet has had a direct impact on how both consumers and businesses engage with each other. India's huge and diverse base of SMEs can benefit from the Internet and we must work hard to ensure SMEs in India better understand the power of the internet to win in this digital age," added Anandan.

Anandan furthe added that only 5 percent of SMEs in India have a website. I sincerely hope that the government will join with industry to help India realize the value of the web and put India back on a trajectory of economic growth.

The report, compiled and presented by Nathan Associates, showed that SMEs, who use the web, fare much better than those that do not.