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President's Message
It is obvious that economic growth has slowed down in India. There are external factors too: many countries are facing a recession like situation due to slowdown in global output and there are black clouds of trade wars between US and China. In such a scenario, investment in domestic infrastructure can provide a sustained path of growth to Indian industries. However, during last couple of quarters, on-going infrastructure projects have also slowed down and new ones are not coming. Whether it is due to administrative reasons or because of stress being felt in the banking and financial sector, the net impact is negative. MSMEs are a big beneficiary of the supply chain in infrastructure development both as direct suppliers of products and consumables but also as contractors and sub-contractors. Their payments cycles have become too long and they are facing crisis of liquidity. It would be imperative that the Government should step in to revive investment and de-clog flow of funds to the sector to ensure sustained economic growth.
"
The second edition of SMART ASIA India 2018- a trade show on smart technologies and smart city solutions kicked off today in Bangalore. Initiated by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the three day SMART ASIA India-Expo & Summit was inaugurated by H.D Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Karnataka.
SMART ASIA India 2018 is a B2B trade show supported by Federation of Indian Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) aimed at providing smart city solutions to India.
Acknowledging that more and more trade will be happening through digital platforms, Roberto Azevedo, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general left an open question during the WTO Public Forum whether the current system of rules is enough to manage this change.
He was addressing the 2018 Public Forum organized by WTO in Geneva, Switzerland last week. WTO organizes the Public Forum every year to involve stakeholders like parliamentarians, leading global businesspeople, students, academics and non-governmental organizations to come together and debate on a wide range of WTO issues. The experts also discuss major trade and development topics of the day.
India is evolving into one of the most dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems globally. While there’s no dearth of talent and ideas, it begs the question—are these enough to ensure the success of a startup? The answer is, most probably not.
There are numerous factors that can make or break a startup. Is the market ready for the idea? Is the product or service a true solution provider? Is the right team in place for the mission? Does the business model align with the funding channels? Is there a contingency plan in case things do not work out as expected? What are the various marketing initiatives required to reach the desired stakeholders? These are just some of the pressing questions that need to be addressed before embarking on rolling out the idea.
There is palpable fear hanging over the global markets which are interconnected through pathways that allow transmission of goods, services, capital and confidence. These neural networks are now in a fragile state and are furiously signalling the likelihood of another crisis. A limited suite of solutions available, unlike 2008, has intensified apprehensions. An inchoate nervousness, that has undergirded market behaviour over past six months, spilled out into the open after the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) October 2018 edition of the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) explicitly mentioned...
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the month of September 2018 month has accelerated to 5.13% from 4.53% in previous month.
The official WPI for ‘All Commodities’ for the month of September, 2018 rose by 0.7 percent to 120.8 from 120.0 for the previous month.
The annual rate of inflation, WPI, stood at 5.13% for the month of September, 2018 as compared to 4.53% for the previous month and 3.14% during the corresponding month of the previous year.
Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.87% compared to a build-up rate of 1.50% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In a bid to protect domestic manufacturers of yarn from cheap imports coming from European Union (EU) and Vietnam, India has imposed an anti-dumping duty for 5 years on import of nylon filament yarn from the above mentioned countries.
The move has been taken by the Commerce Ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).
The Department said “The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be effective for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the 6th day of October, 2018 and shall be paid in Indian currency.”
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has done away with the value limit for exports through post but has fixed Rs 5 lakh cap in case of overseas shipments through courier services.
In a recent notification, DGFT has said that the value limit stipulated on exports through post…has been done away with. The value limit of Rs 5 lakh will be applicable only in case of courier exports. Meanwhile, in a separate notification, DGFT had said imports under three duty exemption schemes — advance authorisation, EPCG (export promotion capital goods), and EOU (export oriented units) — would be exempted from integrated goods and services tax (IGST) and compensation cess till March 31, 2019.
For employment generation in leather and footwear sector the Central Government has approved a special package, which involves implementation of Central Sector Scheme -Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme (IFLADP) with an approved expenditure of Rs. 2600 Crore for 2017-20.
The scheme aims at development of infrastructure for the leather sector, address environmental concerns specific to the leather sector, facilitate additional investments, generate employment and increase production.
Social media giant Facebook has said it would offer meaningful support to more entrepreneurs and startups through some of its key programmes.
It will also foster the growing tech ecosystem in India, it said.
The social media company spoke of how India will prosper once startups flourish. A Facebook India Startup Day was held in the national capital on Tuesday.
Facebook India and South Asia, Head of Platform Partnerships, Satyajeet Singh said, “We are creating programmes that can fuel startups to build businesses of tomorrow through mentoring, regular trainings, workshops and meetups. Within this year, we have worked closely with over 200 startups through our varied programmes.”
Competition watchdog has been approached by a group of online sellers, alleging that Amazon gives preferential treatment to large sellers such as Cloudtail and Appario Retail, which is hurting smaller rivals that depend on the platform for their livelihood.
The group of online sellers wants Amazon to be penalized for this.
As the marketplaces give preferential treatment to certain large sellers, small and medium sellers have complained about it. This partiality leads to unfair competition for 3rd-party vendors on these platforms, small players have said
In a bid to strengthen MSME credit growth, the central government has enhanced the loan limit to over Rs 1 crore for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) under the Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP).
Speaking about this move, MSME Minister, Giriraj Singh said “the government was lending between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 1 crore to successful entrepreneurs at 15 per cent interest subsidy but such entrepreneurs can now apply for loan over and above the limit.”
Inaugurating a month long ‘Khadi Fest 2018’ on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai, he dedicated an online portal for entrepreneurs to seek financial assistance and emphasized on the government’s aim to generate employment in rural India.
The government of Jharkhand has decided to start 50 new food processing plants on the first day of the Global Agriculture and Food Summit on November 29 in the state, said Raghubar Das, chief minister of the state.
He made the above statement while addressing a road show on Global Agriculture and Food Summit.
Inviting investors for the agriculture summit, Das said the state is full of possibilities as it has 40 per cent of the country's mineral resources.
Highlighting the achievements of his government, the Jharkhand CM said that total 89 food processing plants have been started in the state and it has provided employment to over 3,000 people.
The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) and Andhra Pradesh government have signed a MoU to develop leather industry in the state.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed with an aim to do research on leather industry in the state, explore market opportunities and provide services in skill development, infrastructure facilities and many other areas.
The objective of the government is to increase business in the industry to more than Rs 20,000 crore in next three years.
Towards this goal, mini leather parks, business centres at Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati and 78 leather showrooms will be established by CLRI.
Along with CLRI authorities, the top business leaders in this sector also met state Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and expressed willingness to invest in the state.
The state government of Maharashtra is planning to compile a list of "sunset" and "sunrise" industries to which incentives will be channelized accordingly.
The sunset industries, which may be identified under the new industrial policy, will cover sectors which have reached a saturation point in the state or are polluting in nature.
According to a media report quoting a senior official from the state industries department, "In the new industrial policy that is being worked on, we may draw up a list of sunrise and sunset industries. The sunset category will include sectors that are past their prime, corner a major chunk of incentives, cause pollution, have reached a saturation point in the state, and those which will come to Maharashtra even if they are not given incentives."
Odisha government has imposed a ban on the use of certain types of plastic products in six cities of the State. A letter in this regard was issued by the State Forest and Environment Department.
“No person can sell, trade, manufacture, import, store, carry, transport, use or distribute polythene and single-use plastic in the above mentioned cities”, as per the directive issued by the concerned department, in six cities including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Puri. Plastic items that are banned mainly includes Polythene carry bags of any shape, thickness and size and bottled drinking water in polythene terephthalate bottles of less than 200 ml capacity.
With the view to further strengthen and expand the cooperation in trade and investment, transportation, energy and hydro-carbons and SMEs, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Government of Republic of Azerbaijan, Mukhtar Babayev, signed protocol in the 5th meeting of India-Azerbaijan Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade and Economic, Science and Technology Cooperation (IA-IGC), New Delhi.
Aizerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus and variously considered parts of Europe and Asia.
The US government's development finance institution OPIC is keen to invest in the development of India's infrastructure, port and solar energy sectors, a top US official said Tuesday.
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Executive Vice-President David Bohigian, who is visiting India, further said that India is a clearly the anchor of US government's Indo-Pacific strategy.
OPIC is a self-sustaining US government agency that helps American businesses invest in emerging markets.
India has offered a grant of $20 mn to Tajikistan for development projects in order to further deepen their `Strategic Partnership’ by collaborating in areas of defence, trade, tourism and investments.
At the end of discussions between President Ram Nath Kovind with his Tajikistan counterpart President Emomali Rahmon at Palace of President, the two sides inked eight MoUs in various fields including political relations, strategic research, agriculture, renewable energy, traditional medicine, space technology, youth affairs, and disaster management.
Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. (NSIC) of India and Russian Small and Medium Business Corporation (RSMB).
NSIC is a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of India and India and Russia both will sign the memorandum to promote cooperation in MSME during the upcoming visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to India.
Do you agree that RBI repo rate hike in October policy will increase cost of doing business for MSMEs?
According to FISME factor 100 per cent of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises agree that RBI repo rate hike in October policy will increase cost of doing business for MSMEs.
It is common knowledge that successful businesses stand on the qualities and strengths of their workforce. When it comes to small businesses, the role and reliability of the employees takes on greater significance, especially when it comes to keeping customers satisfied and fulfilling their expectations and demands.
Business loan vs equity financing: Which is more suitable for your business?
There will be a time in business when you need to raise money or get a new round of funding. There can be many ways to infuse cash in a business, but the two most popular ways would be through debt or equity.
5 Best Disruptive Data-Driven Marketing Tips for Budding Entrepreneurs
Marketing has evolved over the years witnessing a mammoth shift from just deploying mediums to enhance the brand reach to targeting specific consumers today.
FIA demands reduction in power tariff rates for MSMEs in Haryana
MSME representing body, Faridabad Industries Association (FIA) has asked for power tariff rate reduction from the Haryana government on the similar lines as it has been announced for domestic consumers in the state.
Smur Agro Ventures: Making organic farming sector healthy again
While more and more people demand organic produce, India accounts for a meagre 2.59% of the total organic cultivation in the world. It is this dismal number which led Rakesh Sahni, Udayan Arya, Meghna Arya and Shalu Sahni to get together and start Smur Agro Ventures.
Bengaluru-based Synconext helps optimise energy, space so businesses work more efficiently
The future of the workplace means different things to different people. To Vishal Jain, 33, it translates into an IoT solution that optimises energy, space, and productivity of people. That is what drives Synconext, an IoT platform that transforms real estate infrastructure to help businesses achieve better efficiencies.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 for the month of August 2018.
FISME regularly receives monthly reports on the economies of various countries from their missions in India. These reports provide information on key economic parameters, trade related information and all news relevant for importers and exporters. In this edition you can take a look at reports on:
Write your comments on the FISME Factor. Share your views and suggestions on MSME issues. Win prize! The best mail will get a special book every fortnight.
send mail to: newsletter@fisme.org.in
You are receiving this Newsletter because you are included in our mailing list of recipients who are involved or interested in FISME or Indian MSMEs. You are welcome to partly or fully reproduce and disseminate the contents of this publication provided that you acknowledge the source.
This Newsletter is edited by the FISME Secretariat. We welcome contributions as well as comments and suggestions. Please write to newsletter@fisme.org.in
It is obvious that economic growth has slowed down in India. There are external factors too: many countries are facing a recession like situation due to slowdown in global output and there are black clouds of trade wars between US and China. In such a scenario, investment in domestic infrastructure can provide a sustained path of growth to Indian industries. However, during last couple of quarters, on-going infrastructure projects have also slowed down and new ones are not coming. Whether it is due to administrative reasons or because of stress being felt in the banking and financial sector, the net impact is negative. MSMEs are a big beneficiary of the supply chain in infrastructure development both as direct suppliers of products and consumables but also as contractors and sub-contractors. Their payments cycles have become too long and they are facing crisis of liquidity. It would be imperative that the Government should step in to revive investment and de-clog flow of funds to the sector to ensure sustained economic growth.
"
The second edition of SMART ASIA India 2018- a trade show on smart technologies and smart city solutions kicked off today in Bangalore. Initiated by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the three day SMART ASIA India-Expo & Summit was inaugurated by H.D Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Karnataka.
SMART ASIA India 2018 is a B2B trade show supported by Federation of Indian Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) aimed at providing smart city solutions to India.
Acknowledging that more and more trade will be happening through digital platforms, Roberto Azevedo, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general left an open question during the WTO Public Forum whether the current system of rules is enough to manage this change.
He was addressing the 2018 Public Forum organized by WTO in Geneva, Switzerland last week. WTO organizes the Public Forum every year to involve stakeholders like parliamentarians, leading global businesspeople, students, academics and non-governmental organizations to come together and debate on a wide range of WTO issues. The experts also discuss major trade and development topics of the day.
India is evolving into one of the most dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems globally. While there’s no dearth of talent and ideas, it begs the question—are these enough to ensure the success of a startup? The answer is, most probably not.
There are numerous factors that can make or break a startup. Is the market ready for the idea? Is the product or service a true solution provider? Is the right team in place for the mission? Does the business model align with the funding channels? Is there a contingency plan in case things do not work out as expected? What are the various marketing initiatives required to reach the desired stakeholders? These are just some of the pressing questions that need to be addressed before embarking on rolling out the idea.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the month of September 2018 month has accelerated to 5.13% from 4.53% in previous month.
The official WPI for ‘All Commodities’ for the month of September, 2018 rose by 0.7 percent to 120.8 from 120.0 for the previous month.
The annual rate of inflation, WPI, stood at 5.13% for the month of September, 2018 as compared to 4.53% for the previous month and 3.14% during the corresponding month of the previous year.
Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.87% compared to a build-up rate of 1.50% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In a bid to protect domestic manufacturers of yarn from cheap imports coming from European Union (EU) and Vietnam, India has imposed an anti-dumping duty for 5 years on import of nylon filament yarn from the above mentioned countries.
The move has been taken by the Commerce Ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).
The Department said “The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be effective for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the 6th day of October, 2018 and shall be paid in Indian currency.”
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has done away with the value limit for exports through post but has fixed Rs 5 lakh cap in case of overseas shipments through courier services.
In a recent notification, DGFT has said that the value limit stipulated on exports through post…has been done away with. The value limit of Rs 5 lakh will be applicable only in case of courier exports. Meanwhile, in a separate notification, DGFT had said imports under three duty exemption schemes — advance authorisation, EPCG (export promotion capital goods), and EOU (export oriented units) — would be exempted from integrated goods and services tax (IGST) and compensation cess till March 31, 2019.
For employment generation in leather and footwear sector the Central Government has approved a special package, which involves implementation of Central Sector Scheme -Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme (IFLADP) with an approved expenditure of Rs. 2600 Crore for 2017-20.
The scheme aims at development of infrastructure for the leather sector, address environmental concerns specific to the leather sector, facilitate additional investments, generate employment and increase production.
Social media giant Facebook has said it would offer meaningful support to more entrepreneurs and startups through some of its key programmes.
It will also foster the growing tech ecosystem in India, it said.
The social media company spoke of how India will prosper once startups flourish. A Facebook India Startup Day was held in the national capital on Tuesday.
Facebook India and South Asia, Head of Platform Partnerships, Satyajeet Singh said, “We are creating programmes that can fuel startups to build businesses of tomorrow through mentoring, regular trainings, workshops and meetups. Within this year, we have worked closely with over 200 startups through our varied programmes.”
Competition watchdog has been approached by a group of online sellers, alleging that Amazon gives preferential treatment to large sellers such as Cloudtail and Appario Retail, which is hurting smaller rivals that depend on the platform for their livelihood.
The group of online sellers wants Amazon to be penalized for this.
As the marketplaces give preferential treatment to certain large sellers, small and medium sellers have complained about it. This partiality leads to unfair competition for 3rd-party vendors on these platforms, small players have said
In a bid to strengthen MSME credit growth, the central government has enhanced the loan limit to over Rs 1 crore for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) under the Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP).
Speaking about this move, MSME Minister, Giriraj Singh said “the government was lending between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 1 crore to successful entrepreneurs at 15 per cent interest subsidy but such entrepreneurs can now apply for loan over and above the limit.”
Inaugurating a month long ‘Khadi Fest 2018’ on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai, he dedicated an online portal for entrepreneurs to seek financial assistance and emphasized on the government’s aim to generate employment in rural India.
The government of Jharkhand has decided to start 50 new food processing plants on the first day of the Global Agriculture and Food Summit on November 29 in the state, said Raghubar Das, chief minister of the state.
He made the above statement while addressing a road show on Global Agriculture and Food Summit.
Inviting investors for the agriculture summit, Das said the state is full of possibilities as it has 40 per cent of the country's mineral resources.
Highlighting the achievements of his government, the Jharkhand CM said that total 89 food processing plants have been started in the state and it has provided employment to over 3,000 people.
The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) and Andhra Pradesh government have signed a MoU to develop leather industry in the state.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed with an aim to do research on leather industry in the state, explore market opportunities and provide services in skill development, infrastructure facilities and many other areas.
The objective of the government is to increase business in the industry to more than Rs 20,000 crore in next three years.
Towards this goal, mini leather parks, business centres at Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati and 78 leather showrooms will be established by CLRI.
Along with CLRI authorities, the top business leaders in this sector also met state Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and expressed willingness to invest in the state.
The state government of Maharashtra is planning to compile a list of "sunset" and "sunrise" industries to which incentives will be channelized accordingly.
The sunset industries, which may be identified under the new industrial policy, will cover sectors which have reached a saturation point in the state or are polluting in nature.
According to a media report quoting a senior official from the state industries department, "In the new industrial policy that is being worked on, we may draw up a list of sunrise and sunset industries. The sunset category will include sectors that are past their prime, corner a major chunk of incentives, cause pollution, have reached a saturation point in the state, and those which will come to Maharashtra even if they are not given incentives."
Odisha government has imposed a ban on the use of certain types of plastic products in six cities of the State. A letter in this regard was issued by the State Forest and Environment Department.
“No person can sell, trade, manufacture, import, store, carry, transport, use or distribute polythene and single-use plastic in the above mentioned cities”, as per the directive issued by the concerned department, in six cities including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Puri. Plastic items that are banned mainly includes Polythene carry bags of any shape, thickness and size and bottled drinking water in polythene terephthalate bottles of less than 200 ml capacity.
With the view to further strengthen and expand the cooperation in trade and investment, transportation, energy and hydro-carbons and SMEs, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Government of Republic of Azerbaijan, Mukhtar Babayev, signed protocol in the 5th meeting of India-Azerbaijan Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade and Economic, Science and Technology Cooperation (IA-IGC), New Delhi.
Aizerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus and variously considered parts of Europe and Asia.
The US government's development finance institution OPIC is keen to invest in the development of India's infrastructure, port and solar energy sectors, a top US official said Tuesday.
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Executive Vice-President David Bohigian, who is visiting India, further said that India is a clearly the anchor of US government's Indo-Pacific strategy.
OPIC is a self-sustaining US government agency that helps American businesses invest in emerging markets.
India has offered a grant of $20 mn to Tajikistan for development projects in order to further deepen their `Strategic Partnership’ by collaborating in areas of defence, trade, tourism and investments.
At the end of discussions between President Ram Nath Kovind with his Tajikistan counterpart President Emomali Rahmon at Palace of President, the two sides inked eight MoUs in various fields including political relations, strategic research, agriculture, renewable energy, traditional medicine, space technology, youth affairs, and disaster management.
Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. (NSIC) of India and Russian Small and Medium Business Corporation (RSMB).
NSIC is a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of India and India and Russia both will sign the memorandum to promote cooperation in MSME during the upcoming visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to India.
According to FISME factor 100 per cent of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises agree that RBI repo rate hike in October policy will increase cost of doing business for MSMEs. 
It is common knowledge that successful businesses stand on the qualities and strengths of their workforce. When it comes to small businesses, the role and reliability of the employees takes on greater significance, especially when it comes to keeping customers satisfied and fulfilling their expectations and demands.
There will be a time in business when you need to raise money or get a new round of funding. There can be many ways to infuse cash in a business, but the two most popular ways would be through debt or equity.
Marketing has evolved over the years witnessing a mammoth shift from just deploying mediums to enhance the brand reach to targeting specific consumers today.
MSME representing body, Faridabad Industries Association (FIA) has asked for power tariff rate reduction from the Haryana government on the similar lines as it has been announced for domestic consumers in the state.
While more and more people demand organic produce, India accounts for a meagre 2.59% of the total organic cultivation in the world. It is this dismal number which led Rakesh Sahni, Udayan Arya, Meghna Arya and Shalu Sahni to get together and start Smur Agro Ventures.
The future of the workplace means different things to different people. To Vishal Jain, 33, it translates into an IoT solution that optimises energy, space, and productivity of people. That is what drives Synconext, an IoT platform that transforms real estate infrastructure to help businesses achieve better efficiencies.
