Parul
Ministry of MSME has taken Covid-19 as a challenge and is converting it into an opportunity with futuristic interventions. In this sequence, the Ministry of MSME in a major initiative has onboarded latest IT tools of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for providing assistance and solutions to the issues of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
These tools have been implemented on its robust single window system ‘Champions’ which was launched by the PM on 1st June 2020. This multi-modal system has a portal at virtual level and technology equipped physical control rooms at around 69 locations of the country. It has emerged as one of the front runner platforms for the MSMEs in a very short span of time.
MSME Ministry further said that it is working aggressively to take the Nation and the MSMEs in the direction of industry 4.0. They are not only adopting the technologies categorised as part of industry 4.0 but are also encouraging the MSMEs to adopt the same. They are also helping the MSMEs to manufacture its essential and enabling products like sensors, motors, computer displays and other animation technologies.
Technology Company Intel is their partner in this journey. Intel have guided the Ministry for last five months in implementing some of the tools of AI & ML which are ready for use from today. Ministry has also said that Intel and its technology partner have implemented the entire domain of AI & ML at their Champions portal totally free of cost.
MSME Minister, Nitin Gadakari elaborated the work done by the ministry in this direction during the AI Summit organized by Intel. He praised Intel and its partner for doing this service to India Pro-Bono. He informed that the entire concept and scope analysis and design has been done inhouse in the ministry with the help of NIC and under guidance of local team of Intel.
AI tools that have been set up in this phase are supporting government in the various ways. AI has started giving the MSME Ministry social media insights relating to MSMEs for its policy action through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogs, Forums and online News which were not available on holistic basis.
According to the ministry, till now for grievance redressal, they were dependent on the complaints and data which comes to and through Champions portal. But through, AI/ML govt is able to know the pulse of the entire MSME Sector even without the stakeholders going to the portal.
Ministry officials say that now it will be possible to know the emotions of the people involved with or dependent on the MSME sector in real time. Moreover, AI tools present Data-driven insights that are easy to understand. They can slice and dice data in many ways which are not available in traditional tools of Information Management Systems (MIS).
This allows even ordinary staff, not just specialists, to easily discover actionable points. The data analytics can be easily shared as real-time live-data links with the teams at Central (Hub level) and spokes of champions control rooms spread all over India, an officer said.
Ministry feels that now onwards, the AI is going to do the tedious work of preparing data for analysis; thus, freeing up their human resources to engage in more productive work.
Ministry said that with this spirit and possibility, currently they have started:
• Enabling and Optimizing their Champions portal with AI & Analytics technology to derive insights;
• This is helping them in understanding the issues in real-time which includes information intelligence and sentiment analysis based on widely available Social media and Online data.
This input & intervention will enhance our information resources on the one hand and free our human resources on the other, an office said. Ministry of MSME also said that now the next phase is relatively easier for which the trial is on. The second phase would be directed towards real-time grievance redressal and management. This includes:
• Increasing the performance of control rooms & officers through AI enabled Chat Bots for faster response to the query of portal users;
• Give Real-time, detailed analytics across entire workflow of its single window system and grievance redressal through Champions portal for effective resolution and greater stakeholder satisfaction.
