Dr Vivek Bindra Flags MSME Learning Gap as Key Growth Hurdle; Pan-India Entrepreneurs Echo Concern

A growing number of entrepreneurs across India are identifying the lack of structured, execution-led business learning as one of the biggest reasons why MSMEs struggle to scale beyond a certain point.

This shift in sentiment is becoming increasingly visible across regions and industries, as founders move away from intuition-led decision-making towards more system-driven approaches to business growth.

Recent participation data from industry-led initiatives reinforces this trend. At a leadership-focused program held in Delhi between April 15 and 17, over 350 entrepreneurs from across India participated, representing a diverse mix of sectors and business sizes. The participant base included 39% micro enterprises, 24% small businesses and 37% medium-sized enterprises, indicating that scaling challenges persist well beyond early-stage ventures.

Entrepreneurs travelled from multiple regions including Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, underlining that the challenge is not localised but systemic across India’s MSME landscape.

More significantly, cumulative participation across such initiatives has crossed 5,500 entrepreneurs, reflecting a broader shift towards structured, mentorship-led learning models among business owners.

India’s MSME sector contributes nearly 30% to the country’s GDP and employs over millions of people, making it a critical pillar of economic growth. However, industry observers note that gaps in business strategy, operational execution and leadership capabilities continue to limit scalability.

This gap is increasingly seen as a bottleneck not just for individual businesses, but for the MSME sector’s ability to scale efficiently and contribute to India’s next phase of economic growth.

According to Vivek Bindra, Founder and CEO of Bada Business Pvt. Ltd., the issue is less about intent and more about structure.

“Many businesses hit a growth ceiling not due to lack of effort, but because they lack systems across sales, leadership and operations. When entrepreneurs start building structured frameworks, growth becomes far more predictable and sustainable,” he said.

The trend also reflects a changing mindset among entrepreneurs from focusing purely on operations to actively investing in capability building and long-term scalability.

Industry experts believe that as India moves towards its broader economic ambitions, strengthening MSMEs through structured learning and system-driven growth models will be critical. There is also a growing view that enabling MSMEs to become more formalised and investment-ready could open pathways to capital markets, further accelerating growth and wealth creation.

The increasing participation in such initiatives signals a clear shift that India’s entrepreneurs are no longer just running businesses, but are actively investing in the knowledge and systems required to scale sustainably.