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President's Message
The latest data GDP growth is very reassuring: Indian economy seems back on track after a tumultuous year hit by demonetisation and introduction of GST. Even if it is riding high on the low base, a good monsoon and festive season ahead makes the future prospects brighter indeed. After taking a hit last year, consumer demand is showing a positive steady upward trend. It has picked up (8.6%) in the June quarter. But equally interesting is a double-digit growth (10%) in investment demand which alludes to expansion in factories to meet the additional demand. Therefore, while it is true that demonetisation had impacted economy adversely and its outcomes remain unconvincing, it did not do collateral damage as the doomsayers predicted. Looking ahead, the emerging scenario is greener.
"
Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) took a business delegation of around 20 MSME entrepreneurs to Taiwan for the 16th Edition of TAIPEI PLAS 2018 (15th to 19th August 2018), one of the most prominent exhibitions in Taiwan related to Plastic & Rubber sector.
FISME has in the past also successfully led the delegations to Taipei International Machine Tool Show, popularly known as TIMTOS, Food Taipei and other exhibitions organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
Making the name, fame and lots of money is the dream of every person. With an urge to no longer work under a boss, many of my mates started up with an idea of ‘being an entrepreneur’. Of course being an entrepreneur is easy but succeeding in your entrepreneurship is not a piece of cake. Everyone associates it with the prospect of joy and rich, but in reality, prosperity is not guaranteed. Here I am not demoralizing you to overpass the path of entrepreneurship, but just making you aware with the pitfalls and how to hop over the pitfalls of entrepreneurship.
India should carefully weigh the pros and cons of exiting the trade bloc
The Centre does not appear to be comfortable with the general drift of negotiations in the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The reasons are not too far to seek. The RCEP is led by China, with the 10 ASEAN countries, Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan and South Korea as partners. India’s trade engagement with these countries has not been favourable, when seen in terms of the trade deficit. A recent NITI Aayog “note” on Free Trade Agreements and their “costs” points out that India’s trade deficit with the RCEP group..
The Commerce Ministry has removed the limit of Rs One Crore per year for exports on free of cost exports basis for export promotion for Status Holders and has made 2% of average annual export realization during preceding three licensing years with immediate effect.
Making an amendment in a provision in Foreign Trade Policy, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said Status holders shall be entitled to export freely exportable items (excluding Gems and Jewellery, Articles of Gold and precious metals) on free of cost basis for export promotion subject to an annual limit as follow:
Economic policy think-tank NCAER has retained India's growth forecast for the current fiscal at 7.4 per cent citing comfortable agricultural sector outlook and a marked improvement in the external sector.
According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) report, in 2018–19 the real agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) is envisaged to grow at 4.6 per cent, real industry GVA at 5.1 per cent, and real services GVA at 8.5 per cent.
The government think-tank Niti Aayog has suggested the government to bring down import duty on gold from the existing level of 10 percent and also slash the Goods and Service Tax (GST) rate on the precious metal from the current 3 percent.
In its latest report, the committee headed by Niti Aayog Principal Advisor Ratan P Watal said “reduction in the customs duty in the past has been argued to support tax compliance coupled with a significant reduction in the quantum of gold smuggled into India.”
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has amended an import policy to impose restriction on import of bio-fuels including ethyl alcohol and other denatured spirits, bio-diesel, petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals other than crude.
The import of these items, which was free earlier, will now only be allowed for non-fuel purpose on actual user basis.
"Import policy of bio-fuels revised from 'free' to 'restricted' and allowed for non-fuel purpose on actual user basis as per the National Bio-Fuel Policy," DGFT said in a notification.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has permitted the Export Promotion of Capital Goods (EPCG) authorization holders to shift the capital goods imported during the entire export obligation period to their other units.
In a Public Notice, DGFT said, “EPCG authorization holders are permitted to shift the capital goods imported during the entire export obligation period to their other units mentioned in the IEC and RCMC subject to conditions specified.”
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled licences of more than 500 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) so far this year.
This is more than double the number of such cancellations in the whole of 2017. The main reason for this is failing to meet regulatory norms.
RBI in a notification yesterday informed that it has cancelled the certificates of registrations of as many as 30 NBFCs. Most of these NBFCs were from West Bengal followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.
Aiming to bring uniformity in terms and conditions for environment clearances (EC), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has imposed standard conditions for as many as 25 industrial sectors like steel, coal oil and gas exploration and hydropower projects.
The ministry believes that these standard conditions will lead to a uniform, transparent process which will be free of corruption and any arbitrariness.
It believes that this move will lead to improve ease of doing business and cut down delays in time taken for granting clearances.
To give major boost to Indian chip design sector, Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad has launched an incubator dedicated exclusively to help startups in this sector.
Three startups have already been incubated at the Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI) inaugurated in the campus recently.
The Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI) is the first of its kind in India that will focus on creating an ecosystem for grooming start-ups in chip design.
It will provide a range of offerings including free software tools with leading technology partners in Electronic Design Automation (EDA), a characterization facility for testing chips, and equipment for performing DC and RF characterization.
Uttarakhand is targeting an investment of Rs 20,000 crore from ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’ in sectors including food processing, horticulture and floriculture, tourism and hospitality among others.
In an interaction with media, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said “We are promoting 'Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018' in five key cities in the country to attract investment into the state.We are providing incentives to investors and have a single window clearance, which clears proposals within 15 days and targeting an investment of Rs 20,000 crore during this summit.”
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Ali Baba Cloud India (a part of China’s e-commerce giant Ali Baba) and Andhra Pradesh's Economic Development Board (APEDB) to develop micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
In the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababau Naidu the MoU was inked at Undavalli in Guntur to facilitate MSMEs in the areas of skill development, information technology and others. APEBD, CEO Jasti Krishna Kishore and Ali Baba Cloud India MD Alex Lee signed the MoU.
To strengthen startup ecosystem in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has launched India’s largest business incubator-the Bhamashah Techno Hub in Jhalana Industrial Area of Jaipur.
The newly built facility which is spread over one lakh square feet will provide the facilities free of cost to startups.
The incubator will provide end-to-end support to startups, ranging from infrastructure, technology, angel funding, access to venture capitalists, mentorship, exposure to national and international organizations and experts and much more.
A defence innovation centre to support the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Start-ups in defence space in Coimbatore is on anvil. The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) is all set to develop the centre in order to transform city into a defence manufacturing hub by 2028.
CODISSIA is planning to start the innovation centre with the support of Ministry of Defence.
This defence innovation centre will venture into defence supplies to make this entire region a hub for defence supplies within the next 10 years.
Uttarakhand government will unveil six more policies soon to grab investors in the state before commencing ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit’ in the state capital.
This was said by Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, Utpal Kumar Singh on the sidelines of the Uttarakhand Road Show in Hyderabad on Thursday.
He said “the policies which are in the pipeline are Electric Vehicle policy, Anchor unit policy, Ayush policy, Tourism policy, Food processing policy and New IT policy.”
Talking about the upcoming Investors Summit in Uttarakhand with KNN India, President of Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU), Pankaj Gupta said that government of Uttarakhand..
In yet another step towards attracting more investment in state, Odisha government is forging partnership with Japan for its second mega investment summit that will be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11 to 15, this year.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made the official announcement on Thursday that Japan would be the ‘country partner’ for the Make in Odisha Conclave-2018.
He said “This partnership will provide a new impetus to the relations between Odisha and Japan and open up varied sectors for collaboration.”
India and Singapore on Friday signed the "Second Protocol" amending the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to boost trade ties between the two countries, an official statement said.
The protocol was signed by Joint Secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Rajneesh and Francis Chong, Senior Director, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Government of Singapore, it said. The CECA was signed on June 29, 2005 and its first review was concluded on October 1, 2007.
Swedish furniture retail company IKEA has expressed interest in procuring products from bamboo and natural fibre rich Bengal, said Amit Mitra, West Bengal Finance Minister.
Addressing the concluding session of a two day state MSME Conclave, Mitra said that IKEA has decided to source Rs 2,000 crore worth bamboo and natural fibre from India.” He said, “West Bengal is a big producer of bamboo. People from IKEA came to meet me and had detailed discussions on their interest in the state.”
Do you think that the continuous fall in the rupee against the dollar would nudge the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase interest rates again?
According to FISME factor, 54.5 per cent of MSMEs think that the continuous fall in the rupee against the dollar would nudge the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase interest rates again, 27.3 per cent think RBI will not increase interest rate while 18.2 per cent can’t say.
Leaders have to sometimes drive intentional drastic change for the growth of their organisations or lead people in times of inevitable unavoidable change that stares them in their faces. How they take their people through it can range from inspiring and motivating them or on the other end, create fear and chaos.
If you run a small business, chances are you would have taken a loan. It is particularly important that when you have loan to service, you do not default on your loan repayments. However, at the outset, one must understand what constitutes a default on a loan.
How Brands Can Create an Effective Omni Channel Marketing Strategy
A recent and renowned study stated that customers who frequent a business both in-store and online have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who only shop through one channel.
MSMEs facing funding crunch because of rising NPAs and restrictions under PCA: Amit Mitra
Concerned over rising non-performing assets, West Bengal Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra said that banking sector is facing serious crisis on macroeconomic front due to which MSMEs facing funding crunch.
Dhinesh Kanagaraj, who passed out of IIT-Madras with a B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering in 2011, says his was one of the lucky batches. For, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) was recruiting on campus and Dhinesh found himself with a job at ISRO, where he worked for three years on various projects.
Gurugram-based The India Craft House is changing livelihood of Indian artisans
Indian handicraft products are universally adored, but the industry is seeing a decline as younger generation of artisans are looking elsewhere for more lucrative options. Since the products – sold in India and abroad – are often expensive, the customer base is niche too.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has out the first release of employment related statistics in the formal sector in April, 2018 covering the period September 2017 to February, 2018.
“
We have to shift our emphasis from economic efficiency and materialism towards a sustainable quality of life and to healing of our society, of our people and our ecological systems.
”
– Janet Holmes à Court-An Australian businesswoman and philanthropist
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:
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The latest data GDP growth is very reassuring: Indian economy seems back on track after a tumultuous year hit by demonetisation and introduction of GST. Even if it is riding high on the low base, a good monsoon and festive season ahead makes the future prospects brighter indeed. After taking a hit last year, consumer demand is showing a positive steady upward trend. It has picked up (8.6%) in the June quarter. But equally interesting is a double-digit growth (10%) in investment demand which alludes to expansion in factories to meet the additional demand. Therefore, while it is true that demonetisation had impacted economy adversely and its outcomes remain unconvincing, it did not do collateral damage as the doomsayers predicted. Looking ahead, the emerging scenario is greener.
"
Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) took a business delegation of around 20 MSME entrepreneurs to Taiwan for the 16th Edition of TAIPEI PLAS 2018 (15th to 19th August 2018), one of the most prominent exhibitions in Taiwan related to Plastic & Rubber sector.
FISME has in the past also successfully led the delegations to Taipei International Machine Tool Show, popularly known as TIMTOS, Food Taipei and other exhibitions organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
Making the name, fame and lots of money is the dream of every person. With an urge to no longer work under a boss, many of my mates started up with an idea of ‘being an entrepreneur’. Of course being an entrepreneur is easy but succeeding in your entrepreneurship is not a piece of cake. Everyone associates it with the prospect of joy and rich, but in reality, prosperity is not guaranteed. Here I am not demoralizing you to overpass the path of entrepreneurship, but just making you aware with the pitfalls and how to hop over the pitfalls of entrepreneurship.
The Commerce Ministry has removed the limit of Rs One Crore per year for exports on free of cost exports basis for export promotion for Status Holders and has made 2% of average annual export realization during preceding three licensing years with immediate effect.
Making an amendment in a provision in Foreign Trade Policy, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said Status holders shall be entitled to export freely exportable items (excluding Gems and Jewellery, Articles of Gold and precious metals) on free of cost basis for export promotion subject to an annual limit as follow:
Economic policy think-tank NCAER has retained India's growth forecast for the current fiscal at 7.4 per cent citing comfortable agricultural sector outlook and a marked improvement in the external sector.
According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) report, in 2018–19 the real agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) is envisaged to grow at 4.6 per cent, real industry GVA at 5.1 per cent, and real services GVA at 8.5 per cent.
The government think-tank Niti Aayog has suggested the government to bring down import duty on gold from the existing level of 10 percent and also slash the Goods and Service Tax (GST) rate on the precious metal from the current 3 percent.
In its latest report, the committee headed by Niti Aayog Principal Advisor Ratan P Watal said “reduction in the customs duty in the past has been argued to support tax compliance coupled with a significant reduction in the quantum of gold smuggled into India.”
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has amended an import policy to impose restriction on import of bio-fuels including ethyl alcohol and other denatured spirits, bio-diesel, petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals other than crude.
The import of these items, which was free earlier, will now only be allowed for non-fuel purpose on actual user basis.
"Import policy of bio-fuels revised from 'free' to 'restricted' and allowed for non-fuel purpose on actual user basis as per the National Bio-Fuel Policy," DGFT said in a notification.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has permitted the Export Promotion of Capital Goods (EPCG) authorization holders to shift the capital goods imported during the entire export obligation period to their other units.
In a Public Notice, DGFT said, “EPCG authorization holders are permitted to shift the capital goods imported during the entire export obligation period to their other units mentioned in the IEC and RCMC subject to conditions specified.”
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled licences of more than 500 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) so far this year.
This is more than double the number of such cancellations in the whole of 2017. The main reason for this is failing to meet regulatory norms.
RBI in a notification yesterday informed that it has cancelled the certificates of registrations of as many as 30 NBFCs. Most of these NBFCs were from West Bengal followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.
Aiming to bring uniformity in terms and conditions for environment clearances (EC), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has imposed standard conditions for as many as 25 industrial sectors like steel, coal oil and gas exploration and hydropower projects.
The ministry believes that these standard conditions will lead to a uniform, transparent process which will be free of corruption and any arbitrariness.
It believes that this move will lead to improve ease of doing business and cut down delays in time taken for granting clearances.
To give major boost to Indian chip design sector, Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad has launched an incubator dedicated exclusively to help startups in this sector.
Three startups have already been incubated at the Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI) inaugurated in the campus recently.
The Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI) is the first of its kind in India that will focus on creating an ecosystem for grooming start-ups in chip design.
It will provide a range of offerings including free software tools with leading technology partners in Electronic Design Automation (EDA), a characterization facility for testing chips, and equipment for performing DC and RF characterization.
Uttarakhand is targeting an investment of Rs 20,000 crore from ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018’ in sectors including food processing, horticulture and floriculture, tourism and hospitality among others.
In an interaction with media, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said “We are promoting 'Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit 2018' in five key cities in the country to attract investment into the state.We are providing incentives to investors and have a single window clearance, which clears proposals within 15 days and targeting an investment of Rs 20,000 crore during this summit.”
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Ali Baba Cloud India (a part of China’s e-commerce giant Ali Baba) and Andhra Pradesh's Economic Development Board (APEDB) to develop micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
In the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababau Naidu the MoU was inked at Undavalli in Guntur to facilitate MSMEs in the areas of skill development, information technology and others. APEBD, CEO Jasti Krishna Kishore and Ali Baba Cloud India MD Alex Lee signed the MoU.
To strengthen startup ecosystem in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has launched India’s largest business incubator-the Bhamashah Techno Hub in Jhalana Industrial Area of Jaipur.
The newly built facility which is spread over one lakh square feet will provide the facilities free of cost to startups.
The incubator will provide end-to-end support to startups, ranging from infrastructure, technology, angel funding, access to venture capitalists, mentorship, exposure to national and international organizations and experts and much more.
A defence innovation centre to support the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Start-ups in defence space in Coimbatore is on anvil. The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) is all set to develop the centre in order to transform city into a defence manufacturing hub by 2028.
CODISSIA is planning to start the innovation centre with the support of Ministry of Defence.
This defence innovation centre will venture into defence supplies to make this entire region a hub for defence supplies within the next 10 years.
Uttarakhand government will unveil six more policies soon to grab investors in the state before commencing ‘Destination Uttarakhand: Investors Summit’ in the state capital.
This was said by Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, Utpal Kumar Singh on the sidelines of the Uttarakhand Road Show in Hyderabad on Thursday.
He said “the policies which are in the pipeline are Electric Vehicle policy, Anchor unit policy, Ayush policy, Tourism policy, Food processing policy and New IT policy.”
Talking about the upcoming Investors Summit in Uttarakhand with KNN India, President of Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU), Pankaj Gupta said that government of Uttarakhand..
In yet another step towards attracting more investment in state, Odisha government is forging partnership with Japan for its second mega investment summit that will be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11 to 15, this year.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made the official announcement on Thursday that Japan would be the ‘country partner’ for the Make in Odisha Conclave-2018.
He said “This partnership will provide a new impetus to the relations between Odisha and Japan and open up varied sectors for collaboration.”
India and Singapore on Friday signed the "Second Protocol" amending the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to boost trade ties between the two countries, an official statement said.
The protocol was signed by Joint Secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Rajneesh and Francis Chong, Senior Director, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Government of Singapore, it said. The CECA was signed on June 29, 2005 and its first review was concluded on October 1, 2007.
Swedish furniture retail company IKEA has expressed interest in procuring products from bamboo and natural fibre rich Bengal, said Amit Mitra, West Bengal Finance Minister.
Addressing the concluding session of a two day state MSME Conclave, Mitra said that IKEA has decided to source Rs 2,000 crore worth bamboo and natural fibre from India.” He said, “West Bengal is a big producer of bamboo. People from IKEA came to meet me and had detailed discussions on their interest in the state.”
According to FISME factor, 54.5 per cent of MSMEs think that the continuous fall in the rupee against the dollar would nudge the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase interest rates again, 27.3 per cent think RBI will not increase interest rate while 18.2 per cent can’t say. 
Leaders have to sometimes drive intentional drastic change for the growth of their organisations or lead people in times of inevitable unavoidable change that stares them in their faces. How they take their people through it can range from inspiring and motivating them or on the other end, create fear and chaos.
If you run a small business, chances are you would have taken a loan. It is particularly important that when you have loan to service, you do not default on your loan repayments. However, at the outset, one must understand what constitutes a default on a loan.
A recent and renowned study stated that customers who frequent a business both in-store and online have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who only shop through one channel.
Concerned over rising non-performing assets, West Bengal Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra said that banking sector is facing serious crisis on macroeconomic front due to which MSMEs facing funding crunch.
Indian handicraft products are universally adored, but the industry is seeing a decline as younger generation of artisans are looking elsewhere for more lucrative options. Since the products – sold in India and abroad – are often expensive, the customer base is niche too.
“
We have to shift our emphasis from economic efficiency and materialism towards a sustainable quality of life and to healing of our society, of our people and our ecological systems.
”
