India highlights MSME development under BRICS leadership

India has used its BRICS chairship to emphasize the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as vital contributors to economic growth and prosperity. The country reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening the internationalisation of MSMEs and addressing challenges they face in global trade.

India acknowledged that access to affordable finance remains a major bottleneck limiting MSMEs’ participation in trade and integration into global value chains. It highlighted the importance of promoting innovative financing mechanisms, including digital and platform-based multistakeholder solutions, to facilitate easier access to trade finance for MSMEs. The country also expressed support for a non-discriminatory, open, equitable, transparent, fair, inclusive, predictable, and rules-based multilateral trading system.

India echoed the aspirations of the Global South to fully integrate into the multilateral trading system and strongly supported Ethiopia and Iran’s bid for accession to the World Trade Organization. It acknowledged China’s expansion of zero-tariff treatment to cover 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic ties. Additionally, India reiterated the urgent need to reform the Bretton Woods Institutions to make them more agile, effective, credible, inclusive, fit for purpose, unbiased, accountable, and representative, enhancing their legitimacy. It emphasized that the voice and representation of emerging markets and developing economies in these institutions must reflect their relative position in the global economy.