IFQM Symposium 2025 to Focus on Strengthening MSMEs

Honorable Minister for Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India, Nirmala Sitharaman urged the industry to partner with the government to bridge the HR insufficiency and prepare the youth for new digital opportunities. She also applauded the efforts taken by IFQM towards developing an ecosystem to nurture future-ready talent and position India’s products, services, and ideas seamlessly within global value chains.

In her inaugural address at the second annual two Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM), Symposium held in New Delhi, the Finance Minister asked for more participative and continuous dialogue from the industry. She stated, “If the government has been moving towards the direction that industry wanted, there should be no more hesitation to invest, expand the capacity, and produce more.” She invited the industry to engage with government on an ongoing basis and spell out reforms they require.

IFQM Symposium 2025 is, focusing on a central theme “Quality & Innovation to Make India Globally Competitive”.  Mr. N. Chandrasekaran Chairman, Tata Sons, in his welcome address highlighted the importance of Viksit Bharat and the industry need to walk with this vision of Honurable Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

IFQM is led by a Governing Council* consisting of top industry captains. The symposium is being attended by government leaders, global experts, industry champions, and academia to deliberate on an action agenda for positioning India as a trusted, world-class player in global value chains.

IFQM will soon be equipped with a strong suite of 60+ Experiential Learning Solutions that are based on Action Learning principles. It is currently supported by 16+ experts in Assessment & Counselling and Solutioning, IFQM within the last one year has engaged large companies to co-create and support their Transformation journeys.

Developed Digital tools which are aimed at requirements of MSMEs keeping Quality, Productivity & Skill in mind, further a strong Industry-Academia collaboration to develop a talent pipeline industry-ready, HR while enabling solutions for the industry through Academic research has been developed by IFQM.

Three MSME Clusters have already started functioning and four more are on the anvil and will increase to 100 MSME companies joining by end of FY. 

These growing actions, will fuel ambitions to pursue the demanding standards of IFQM. It has instituted a Quality Excellence Prize, three MOUs are in the pipeline. IFQM within a year has six Case Study projects, 12 institutes for engagement and curated 26 Learning Solutions and enhanced continuous engagement with 20 member companies. The IFQM Academy, coming up near Bangalore airport, is set to be inaugurated in FY 2026–27.

The development of certain standard operating procedure for achieving the quality tools and skills like Daily Work Management (DWM), Digital Drawing to Manufacturing (DDM), and Supply Chain management (SCM) are being adopted by MSMEs. The handholding is being done by 10 large companies for 100 MSMEs. The Goal set by IFQM for 2026 is to develop 100 Companies in Clusters and companies are 20 already in Engagement and 30 in the Pipeline. Further, the drive is to Rolling out Assessments of QEP Applicants.

Experts at the event highlighted the Integrating Quality and Innovation for Excellence in Manufacturing and the Virtuous cycle of Productivity, Competitiveness, and Value creation focused on Quality and Safety in Design, Development and Operations as a Force Multiplier for Sustainable Growth. Dr. Hans-Joachim Neumann, Executive Vice President and Head of Integrated Supply Chain, Merck Electronics in his keynote pointed to India's role in the above area.

In a Fireside Chat industry experts discssed the leading in a BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, & Incomprehensible) Environment, the requirements approach of Leadership towards guiding their people in uncertain business environments,adaptability, empathy, and purpose-driven clarity, creating resilient systems, empowering people, and staying grounded, speakers led by Mr. Soumitra Bhattacharya CEO and Director IFQM, Mr. Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Chairman and Co-Founder, Motherson Group, Mr. Srikanth Padmanabhan, Independent Director, IFQM, Mr. Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharma, which was moderated by Mr. Jacques Esculier, Member of the Supervisory Boards, Daimler Truck AG and S&P Global (virtual) highlighted the challenges and opportunities for the MSMEs in India.

Another session discussed on imperatives for India to be a significant player in the Global Supply Chain 

Positioning India as a dependable and competitive player in the global supply chain ecosystem, and what it takes to achieve the manufacturing excellence, quality systems, policy frameworks, digital readiness, infrastructure, skill development, and sustainability Mr. TV Narendran, CEO & MD, Tata Steel ,Dr. Randhir Thakur, CEO & MD, Tata Electronics, Mr. KN Radhakrishnan, Director & CEO, TVS Motor Co, Mr. Salil Gupte, President, Boeing India & South Asia, Mr. R Mukundan, CEO & MD, Tata Chemicals Limited highlighted that India has strong opportunity in global supply chain management, especially with MSMEs undertaking cultural change and customer centricity.