The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has introduced AI and ML powered tools on its single window system ‘Champions’ in a bid to take a proactive stance on matters related to the MSMEs. The ministry seeks to stay ahead of any concerns that the sector faces by collating real-time data and analytics from social media and other online sources for enabling a smooth environment for MSME operations in the country. 

The ministry said, “This input & intervention will enhance our information resources on the one hand and free our human resources on the other.” The holistic insights from “Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogs, Forums and online news” will help the policymakers to include all stakeholders and make informed decisions as they will “know the pulse of the entire MSME sector.” Coming into effect from today onwards, the first phase is focussed on guiding policy action through “sentiment analysis based on widely available social media and online data.”

This is a paradigm shift as the ministry is “not only adopting the technologies categorised as part of Industry 4.0 but are also encouraging the MSMEs to adopt the same.” This AI transformation has been enabled pro bono by Intel over a period of five months.

In the second phase, it will deploy AI enabled chatbots to achieve real-time grievance redressal and greater stakeholder satisfaction, the ministry revealed. 

AI & ML analytics can be seen at the “AI Corner” at this link on the ministry’s Champions portal.