Blockchain technology and its importance for the growth and prosperity of Indian small and medium-sized enterprises

Purpose: Blockchain technology (BT), since its invention, has revolutionized the business environment across the globe while the Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are yet to adopt this technology in a wide-spread level. In this background, the current review provides an overview of the technology and its features, successful adoption in other industries and SMEs and how Indian SMEs can gain benefits. Problem: Although the BT has been hailed as a boon for the future, there exist a few challenges as well such as energy consumption, environmental issues, and policy-level hindrances. The current study makes an attempt to identify the issues and provide possible solutions to overcome these challenges. Methodology: The current study is a narrative review that analyses the secondary data available from government reports, research articles, corporate research publications, UN and other international bodies’ reports, and so on. This narrative review article conducts an in-depth analysis of various perspectives of the variables considered for the study. Findings: The study found that the Indian SMEs, in spite of the challenges faced, can still gain a huge advantage by leveraging the technology for which the government ecosystem, political climate, global economic conditions, steady market situations, and the mindset among the SME owners and decision-makers must work cohesively. Recommendations: The current study has provided a few policy-level recommendations for sustainable growth of the SMEs in the near future.