At the Malayala Manorama Sampadyam Kerala Business Summit in Kochi, NABARD Chief General Manager V. Balasubramanian highlighted the vast potential for rural business growth beyond traditional manufacturing. Speaking during the rural enterprise session, he urged the expansion of MSMEs into agriculture, fisheries value addition, tourism, and care services. Furthermore, he introduced innovative concepts such as refundable grants for profitable startups and emphasized leveraging generative AI and digital platforms to reduce costs and enhance market access.

At the Malayala Manorama Sampadyam Kerala Business Summit in Kochi, NABARD Chief General Manager V. Balasubramanian highlighted the vast potential for rural business growth beyond traditional manufacturing. Speaking during the rural enterprise session, he urged the expansion of MSMEs into agriculture, fisheries value addition, tourism, and care services. Furthermore, he introduced innovative concepts such as refundable grants for profitable startups and emphasized leveraging generative AI and digital platforms to reduce costs and enhance market access.

At the Malayala Manorama Sampadyam Kerala Business Summit in Kochi, NABARD Chief General Manager V. Balasubramanian highlighted the vast potential for rural business growth beyond traditional manufacturing. Speaking during the rural enterprise session, he urged the expansion of MSMEs into agriculture, fisheries value addition, tourism, and care services. Furthermore, he introduced innovative concepts such as refundable grants for profitable startups and emphasized leveraging generative AI and digital platforms to reduce costs and enhance market access.

The Malayala Manorama Sampadyam Kerala Business Summit, held in Kochi on Thursday, noted the potential for rural businesses during a presentation session titled “Rural Business Growth Schemes and Opportunities”.

Chief General Manager of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), V. Balasubramanian, outlined ways to strengthen rural enterprises, including financing support, digital market access and producer organisations.

Speaking at the summit, he said rural economies, including Kerala's, create opportunities beyond traditional manufacturing and urban firms.

“The rural economy doesn’t mean it is happening only in metropolitan cities or large corporations or equity firms. But it is actually happening in our very own villages,” he said.

He also called for a broader understanding of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), saying rural enterprise development should extend beyond manufacturing to include agriculture and fisheries value addition, tourism, care services and other businesses.

According to Balasubramanian, assistance for rural businesses must focus on creating self-sufficient firms. He introduced the idea of refundable grants, which would allow recipients to return money once their companies were profitable so that it could be used to help future business owners.

Additionally, he emphasised how generative AI can reduce costs, improve quality and help businesses reach markets more effectively. In order to create viable rural businesses, he urged increased cooperation between organisations, business owners, and digital platforms.

After the presentation, the Editor-in-Chief of Manorama Yearbook and Manorama Books, Thomas Dominic, presented a memento to V. Balasubramanian.