a positive impact on the long - term health and sustainability of india ’ s sme sector. delays in settlement of dues adversely affect the recycling of funds and business operations of the sme units. a study of 5000 smes by crisil shows that high quantum of receivables is an endemic problem across industry sectors and geographies in the sme space. smaller smes, perhaps due to their lower bargaining power, are in a more disadvantageous position with weaker receivables positions. the crisil study estimates that smes can enhance profits by at least 15 percent if they receive payments on time from their large corporate customers. it is, therefore, critical to ensure that the small entities are able to raise liquidity against their receivables. this problem can be institutionally tackled by factoring, which provides liquidity to smes against their receivables and can be an alternative source of working capital. world over, factoring is a preferred route of accessing working capital for smes and even larger bis central bankers ’ speeches organisations. some banks and financial institutions in india have already launched factoring services and i would urge more banks to offer such services, particularly for the msmes. to provide a legislative framework for factoring services, the parliament has recently passed the factoring regulation bill that would address delays in payment and liquidity problems of micro and small enterprises. iv. access to technology with the increasing competition, globalization and the uncertainty due to the global downturn, it is essential for smes to be technology literate. smes will have to continuously incorporate the latest technology into their production processes as well as in their marketing and management functions, to cut costs, gain efficiency and consistency. there are additional challenges to be met. the influx of low - cost products from china has made it even more difficult for indian manufacturers to compete solely on the price front. china is considered the world ’ s manufacturing backyard, due to its low manufacturing and labour costs when compared to those elsewhere. what smes need today is knowledge and access to new technology. in fact, innovation and technology are the two tools msmes have with them that need to be capitalized fully to compete with firms much larger in size. smes will have to continuously strive to incorporate the latest technology into their production processes as well as in their marketing and management functions, to cut costs, gain efficiency and consistency. let me reiterate that technology should not be adopted just

edward m gramlich : the board ’ s modeling work in the 1960s remarks by mr edward m gramlich, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the federal reserve board models and monetary policy conference, washington, dc, 26 march 2004. * * * i am delighted to be speaking at a conference honoring dale henderson, dick porter, and peter tinsley. i remember all of them from long ago. peter and i joined the board staff in september 1965, when pat hendershott and bob parry also joined. at least in terms of longevity, that was a pretty significant hiring month. i remember being on a panel with dick at an academic conference in those days. he had not yet joined the board, being an assistant professor at ohio state. being thoroughly a michigan man now, i probably should not admit it, but i also met him, along with dave lindsey, when i interviewed for a job at ohio state. the job interview didn ’ t pan out, i think mainly on my side but perhaps on theirs too. i also knew dale back then. he joined the board shortly after i left, but i met him socially in the early 1970s. frankly, i still remember one thing he said to me. when i mentioned that i used to be on the board ’ s staff, he said he knew - he had read some of my stuff. “ well, ” i said expectantly. “ oh, some of it ’ s ok, ” he said. with his subsequent international exposure, dale has gotten much more diplomatic over the years. all three principals have made great contributions to economic modeling at the board. peter started with optimal control techniques and distributed lags, and continued with rational expectations estimation procedures. dick ’ s work focused on money demand and monetary control techniques. dale was instrumental in developing the board ’ s global model. all three have generally promoted research at the board, helped younger scholars get established, sponsored working paper series, and fought for better computers and other support. as for the models themselves, the topic of the conference, i feel like rip van winkle. in the very early days, 1965 - 70, i was here and indeed right in the middle of the producer side of the model work. then i went off and did other things for twenty - seven years, returning in 1997 as a consumer of models. things changed a lot in those twenty - seven years. most of you are reasonably familiar with what the model looks like