New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): Highlighting a strategic push to expand India's global footprint, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has rolled out a targeted SME-to-MNC programme across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Goa over 12 to 48 months.

Speaking with ANI, Vir S Advani, Chairman, CII Western Region & Chairman and Managing Director, Blue Star Ltd, said that India will likely have up to 25 new multinational companies (MNCs) over the next 2-3 years under the CII Western Region's SME-to-MNC programme.

He said the programme will focus on strengthening their capabilities, improving competitiveness, increasing investment in R&D and developing leadership talent, enabling the companies to scale up and eventually become exporters.

'If we are successful, we are hopeful that from western region we can create 20 to 25 such companies over the next 2, 3 years, it does not sound like a lot but once we pilot it with these companies, I think then it will become an automatic momentum which will allow us to then create 100s of multinational companies from India, that is CII western region's hope,' Vir S Advani told ANI.

Beyond nurturing upcoming multinational giants, the initiative serves a crucial macroeconomic objective: mitigating India's balance of payments pressures. Pointing to rising import bills driven by energy demands and component imports amid ongoing geopolitical conflicts, Advani emphasised that scaling regional exports remains a central pillar of CII's policy proposals and industry collaboration.

'CII is very focused on exports because we understand the government is clear that we need to fix this balance of payment problem that we have, the rupee is depreciating rapidly because imports are rising, one is of course oil imports are rising because of the war, but also we have a lot of import of components, so to offset that CII's proposal to the government is to push exports so that we balance the imports that we are doing,' he said.

Adding to this, Advani said CII is working with its 720 members in Gujarat to help companies expand their export footprint. (ANI)