MSMEs for Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals: A Study of SHGs of Odisha in Digital Milieu

The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) maneuver a crucial part in both developed and developing countries for their contribution towards employment generation, capital formation and inflow of foreign exchange. In the context of India, their contribution is immense and in states like Odisha they are indispensable for overwhelming dependence of the state on them. However, owing to multiple factors like natural conditions, political set-up, macroeconomic parameters, style of entrepreneurial leadership, availability of capital, usage of digital infrastructure, etc., the performance of MSMEs in Odisha is unpredictable. As such the performance of all MSME units in the state of Odisha is not at par. While some of the units are performing well, some are struggling a lot. If the factors that cause good performance of the successful MSMEs are traced and the same set is adapted in struggling units, maybe all the MSME units can perform well and facilitate achieving first three sustainable development goals (SDGs), i.e., SDG-1: no poverty, SDG-2: zero hunger, and SDG-3: good health and well-being. Thus, the objective of this paper is to identify the factors that make the MSME units, specifically the self help groups (SHGs) successful and devise strategies for effective usage of digital infrastructure for sustainable performance. The paper is based on Time Series secondary data pertaining to number of MSMEs, capital investment and number of employees.