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President's Message
In World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 survey India improved its ranking by 14 points. It now stands at 63 rung among 190 countries. India has improved its relative position consistently during last five years jumping by 79 points from 142 position in 2014 - a record for a major economy. Having the new Insolvency mechanism, streamlining construction permits and easing trading across borders led this jump. While welcoming this change wholeheartedly, we should not get blinded by the numbers. The ranking is based on survey in Mumbai and Delhi only and leave out many contentious parameters such as labour. Doing business in India continues to be challenging due to almost a dysfunctional legal system for businesses and high handedness of both tax and administrative officials. That is why FISME has repeatedly demanded a functional Grievance cum feedback mechanism so that theses excesses are captured and their systemic study leads to an agenda for regulatory reforms.
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Government of India begins work for new Industrial Policy; Working Group set up with apex industry bodies CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and FISME. Please share your comments and suggestions and questions the Industrial Policy must address at sg@fisme.org.in
A new Industrial policy is in the making. Government of India has setup a Working Group also comprising of senior officials of Union Ministries and States and apex industry bodies. FISME as a member of working group is to submit its views soon. In part of the series of consultations on the issue, a brainstorming session was organized on 23 October 2019 by FISME with noted economists including Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, Dr. Santosh Mehrotra and Mr. Vivan Sharan among others. FISME gathered feedback on its proposals especially making Public Procurement as a major leaver for spurring domestic industrialization and growth.
Business planning can never be addressed with standalone methods. Forecasting and scenario planning, when used together, deliver great results
Regulation changes, for instance, impact in shorter time horizons, while factors like changing demographics show their effect in the longer term. To evaluate trends across time horizons, organisations follow different approaches. Traditional methods like forecasting are effective in a relatively stable environment; however, in a rapidly changing business environment, alternative methods like scenario planning take the uncertainties into consideration too. This helps organisations determine if their current strategy would suffice to succeed. Organisations can operate from a proactive position in response to the elements of surprise of any conceivable future.
In a development that holds out hope for India in attracting FDI, it recorded a further improvement in the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings. The improvement in ranking from 77 last year and an abysmal low of 142 in 2014 to 63 now has not translated into favourable business sentiment and this is something the government must address. The recent assembly election results point to people feeling economic distress. The next generation of economic reforms cannot...
In a bid to provide growth-stage startups with opportunities to assess product fitment and readiness to new markets across the globe, T-Hub on Tuesday launched a programme called 'Trestle'.
Apart from aiding Indian startups with the relevant resources and connections to make its place into the global market, it also offers international startups a platform to enter the Indian market.
The program is a structured effort by T-Hub to expand and strengthen its ecosystem in different countries.
“With the maturation of the startups in the Indian ecosystem, there are more startups that are now ready to get onto the global stage. Trestle program is designed for startups that are looking for Go-To-Market (GTM) support, for scaling and tuning their business model for expansion in the US markets,” Ravi Narayan, CEO, T-Hub, said in a statement.
The Finance Ministry is considering to extend the two-year moratorium for debt repayments by struggling textile MSMEs.
According to media reports, the textile industry is facing huge liquidity problems due to delay in refund of the Merchandised Export from India Scheme (MEIS) and Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Earlier, to ease the liquidity crunch faced by manufacturers and exporters, the textile sector has sought immediate release of refunds under various government schemes.
In a joint memorandum presented by seven national-level textile associations and major export promotion councils to the government, the industry said that textile units are facing severe liquidity issues.
Government is taking several initiatives to boost exports from India and give exporters an ease of doing business environment.
Calling for Make in India – Export to the world approach amongst industries, CBIC is allowing duty-free import of raw materials and capital goods for manufacturing and other operations in a bonded manufacturing facility.
CBIC is making effort to promote India as the manufacturing hub globally.
The Invest India bonded manufacturing website states that when the raw materials or capital goods are imported, the import duty on them is deferred.
The new definition of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be linked to turnover and do away with the current system of classifying units based on the capital deployed in plant and machinery.
According to media reports, the MSME ministry which is finalising the proposal, is seeking to end the difference between the manufacturing and services sector that the current investment-based definition makes.
As per the proposal, any unit with a turnover of up to Rs 5 crore will be classified as a micro enterprise, while those with up to Rs 75 crore annual revenue will be in the small category unit. Similarly, enterprises with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore will be classified as medium-scale enterprises.
Public sector bank Bank of Baroda (BoB) has partnered with KapitalTech, a fintech lender, for providing loans to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector, under the co-origination guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The partnership aims at offering working capital business loans to MSMEs in over 200 micro markets across India. The focus will be to reach out to small businesses in need of capital in Tier II & Tier III cities that are traditionally underserved by financing channels.
“We are committed to working jointly with various partners to support MSMEs, and we have entered into this MoU to enhance our footprint in delivery of products and services in the MSME eco-system,” said Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director at Bank of Baroda.
The Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has said that due to severe slowdown, the potential of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to sustain, has been damaged.
''The severe slowdown in the automobile, textiles and garments, and other manufacturing segments has severely damaged the potential of the MSMEs to sustain,’’ said R Raju, president, KASSIA in Mangaluru on Monday to media persons.
He further said that out of 6 lakh MSMEs, many units have seen a fall in business ranging from 30 per cent to 70 per cent. Contract and temporary employees have lost their jobs. He also said that the financing of operations is getting to be very difficult.
Within two months of revocation of much debated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the big investors have shown keen interest in investing in J&K. Seeing that as a big opportunity, the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are hopeful that this will bring in more business for the ancillary or secondary industries.
According to a media report, as many as 43 private firms with a proposed investment of Rs 13,700 crore have expressed interest to set up businesses in the region.
In a bid to boost Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Madhya Pradesh government has launched a scheme called 'Madhya Pradesh MSME Protsahan Yojana' which would focus on attracting investment and encouraging job creation among MSMEs in the state.
Under the scheme, the government would provide 40 per cent grant for setting up businesses in the state along with a provision of acquiring cheap land by providing 70 per cent of employment to locals and representation of STs, SCs, and OBCs.
Transforming as an 'Industrial hub', Bokaro will soon get a technology center to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The technology centre is proposed to be set up at Bokaro with an investment of Rs 200 crore.
As per government's instructions, Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Kumar instructed concerned officials to carry out the required job to set up a technology center in Bokaro.
According to DC, MSME ministry has decided to build a total of 20 technology centers across the country and Bokaro is one of them. These proposed technology centers will provide the necessary test facility to the entrepreneurs around them to set up small scale factories.
For Asia’s first ‘Integrated Leather Complex’ on the Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC) in Bantala, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal Government has plans to spend Rs 540 crore to develop its infrastructure. The complex will house several micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from leather sector.
As many as 100 tanneries from Kanpur are reportedly shifting there in the coming years.
State Finance and Industry & Commerce Minister, Dr Amit Mitra said this recently at the recently-held India, Leather and Accessories Fair in Kolkata.
Since the retail business in Odisha has picked up pace, the state government is all set to formulate a retail trade policy which will facilitate a favourable environment to the traders.
The policy will also take care of Ease of Doing Business (EODB), access to credit, adoption of technology, simplification of acts and rules, welfare of traders and creation of organised retail market infrastructure, etc.
Since, the players like Future Group, Reliance Trade, Food Court, NEXUS and several others are making inroads, major players in the retail trade have already made inroads to the State.
Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has invited Japanese steel companies Nippon Steel and Daido Steel to invest in India.
Pradhan said that he discussed with the company's officials ways to further strengthen cooperation through technology transfer and sharing of best practices to make the local steel industry more cost-effective.
"Met with representatives of Daido Steel Co. Ltd in Tokyo. Daido is one of the world's largest specialty steel manufacturers also dealing in high-performance materials, magnetic materials, parts for the automobile industry and industrial equipment," Pradhan said in a tweet.
The US and India are reportedly discussing a deal to allow the Trump administration to reinstate the Generalised System of Preference for India in exchange for certain market access commitments to America, a US Congressional report has informed the lawmakers.
The Generalised System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.
Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi urged the government of India to lift ban on onion export to neighbouring country.
Munshi who was in Guwahati on Tuesday to attend the India-Bangladesh stakeholders' meeting said, “ I have spoken to India’s Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal recently and he has assured that the export ban will be lifted after Maharashtra elections are over”.
Do you think that the RBI rate cut by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent will help to boost economic growth?
According to FISME factor 66.7% MSMEs think that the RBI rate cut by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent will help to boost economic growth while 33.3% can’t say.
Being in the business of people and performance, I constantly ask myself this question. How should organisations, especially in today’s disruptive business landscape, be agile in their thinking on hiring, developing and managing people? How should HR transform themselves to re-design talent-led strategies, structures, and workflows to nurture their organisation’s goals of differentiated growth?
It can be hard to navigate the world of finance, much less the highly competitive startup ecosystem. No matter what age you are, everyone should think about retirement planning, mutual funds, life insurance, savings and tax planning, all of which can be even more difficult if you’re already working to grow a new business (or keep an older one alive) at the same time.
A Step By Step Guide To Build A Brand Using Social Media
First things first, to create a branding strategy, it's essential to set goals first. Whether you're an individual or a brand, you already have an online brand given you have a digital footprint.
Statistics suggest most people do search online before trusting any brand. You need to take control of your brand by ensuring that people see what you want to show them when they google about you or check your social media profiles.
PPCB is responsible for closure of leather MSMEs in Jalandhar, says FOPSIA president
The Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations (FOPSIA) President Badish Jindal said that Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) project hasn't been implemented on time in the city and people were allowed to set up industries without CETP.
FOPSIA president said this after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday ordered shutting down of all tanneries working in Jalandhar’s Leather Complex till they conform to norms for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants.
These young entrepreneurs aim to redefine fleet operations in India with their EV startup
Newer electric vehicle (EV) models and technological advancements are making EV ownership more attractive.
The startup was founded back in 2017 by Shubham Jain and Indrajeet Rajpoot, both in their mid-twenties, when they saw EVs as a way to make a dent in the Indian automotive market.
How agritech startup FreshoKartz helps augment farmers’ income by 50 pc
Food traceability, from source to shelf, is gaining importance across India. Consumers are looking for fresher produce even as farmers eye avenues where they can sell farm-fresh goods. Enter Jaipur-based agritech startup FreshoKartz, which aims to integrate farms, farmers, vendors, traders, and customers on a common platform to structure the agricultural sector.
The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has been bringing out the employment related statistics in the formal sector covering the period September 2017 onwards.
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
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This Newsletter is edited by the FISME Secretariat. We welcome contributions as well as comments and suggestions. Please write to newsletter@fisme.org.in
In World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 survey India improved its ranking by 14 points. It now stands at 63 rung among 190 countries. India has improved its relative position consistently during last five years jumping by 79 points from 142 position in 2014 - a record for a major economy. Having the new Insolvency mechanism, streamlining construction permits and easing trading across borders led this jump. While welcoming this change wholeheartedly, we should not get blinded by the numbers. The ranking is based on survey in Mumbai and Delhi only and leave out many contentious parameters such as labour. Doing business in India continues to be challenging due to almost a dysfunctional legal system for businesses and high handedness of both tax and administrative officials. That is why FISME has repeatedly demanded a functional Grievance cum feedback mechanism so that theses excesses are captured and their systemic study leads to an agenda for regulatory reforms.
"
A new Industrial policy is in the making. Government of India has setup a Working Group also comprising of senior officials of Union Ministries and States and apex industry bodies. FISME as a member of working group is to submit its views soon. In part of the series of consultations on the issue, a brainstorming session was organized on 23 October 2019 by FISME with noted economists including Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, Dr. Santosh Mehrotra and Mr. Vivan Sharan among others. FISME gathered feedback on its proposals especially making Public Procurement as a major leaver for spurring domestic industrialization and growth.
Business planning can never be addressed with standalone methods. Forecasting and scenario planning, when used together, deliver great results
Regulation changes, for instance, impact in shorter time horizons, while factors like changing demographics show their effect in the longer term. To evaluate trends across time horizons, organisations follow different approaches. Traditional methods like forecasting are effective in a relatively stable environment; however, in a rapidly changing business environment, alternative methods like scenario planning take the uncertainties into consideration too. This helps organisations determine if their current strategy would suffice to succeed. Organisations can operate from a proactive position in response to the elements of surprise of any conceivable future.
In a bid to provide growth-stage startups with opportunities to assess product fitment and readiness to new markets across the globe, T-Hub on Tuesday launched a programme called 'Trestle'.
Apart from aiding Indian startups with the relevant resources and connections to make its place into the global market, it also offers international startups a platform to enter the Indian market.
The program is a structured effort by T-Hub to expand and strengthen its ecosystem in different countries.
“With the maturation of the startups in the Indian ecosystem, there are more startups that are now ready to get onto the global stage. Trestle program is designed for startups that are looking for Go-To-Market (GTM) support, for scaling and tuning their business model for expansion in the US markets,” Ravi Narayan, CEO, T-Hub, said in a statement.
The Finance Ministry is considering to extend the two-year moratorium for debt repayments by struggling textile MSMEs.
According to media reports, the textile industry is facing huge liquidity problems due to delay in refund of the Merchandised Export from India Scheme (MEIS) and Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Earlier, to ease the liquidity crunch faced by manufacturers and exporters, the textile sector has sought immediate release of refunds under various government schemes.
In a joint memorandum presented by seven national-level textile associations and major export promotion councils to the government, the industry said that textile units are facing severe liquidity issues.
Government is taking several initiatives to boost exports from India and give exporters an ease of doing business environment.
Calling for Make in India – Export to the world approach amongst industries, CBIC is allowing duty-free import of raw materials and capital goods for manufacturing and other operations in a bonded manufacturing facility.
CBIC is making effort to promote India as the manufacturing hub globally.
The Invest India bonded manufacturing website states that when the raw materials or capital goods are imported, the import duty on them is deferred.
The new definition of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be linked to turnover and do away with the current system of classifying units based on the capital deployed in plant and machinery.
According to media reports, the MSME ministry which is finalising the proposal, is seeking to end the difference between the manufacturing and services sector that the current investment-based definition makes.
As per the proposal, any unit with a turnover of up to Rs 5 crore will be classified as a micro enterprise, while those with up to Rs 75 crore annual revenue will be in the small category unit. Similarly, enterprises with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore will be classified as medium-scale enterprises.
Public sector bank Bank of Baroda (BoB) has partnered with KapitalTech, a fintech lender, for providing loans to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector, under the co-origination guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The partnership aims at offering working capital business loans to MSMEs in over 200 micro markets across India. The focus will be to reach out to small businesses in need of capital in Tier II & Tier III cities that are traditionally underserved by financing channels.
“We are committed to working jointly with various partners to support MSMEs, and we have entered into this MoU to enhance our footprint in delivery of products and services in the MSME eco-system,” said Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director at Bank of Baroda.
The Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has said that due to severe slowdown, the potential of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to sustain, has been damaged.
''The severe slowdown in the automobile, textiles and garments, and other manufacturing segments has severely damaged the potential of the MSMEs to sustain,’’ said R Raju, president, KASSIA in Mangaluru on Monday to media persons.
He further said that out of 6 lakh MSMEs, many units have seen a fall in business ranging from 30 per cent to 70 per cent. Contract and temporary employees have lost their jobs. He also said that the financing of operations is getting to be very difficult.
Within two months of revocation of much debated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the big investors have shown keen interest in investing in J&K. Seeing that as a big opportunity, the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are hopeful that this will bring in more business for the ancillary or secondary industries.
According to a media report, as many as 43 private firms with a proposed investment of Rs 13,700 crore have expressed interest to set up businesses in the region.
In a bid to boost Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Madhya Pradesh government has launched a scheme called 'Madhya Pradesh MSME Protsahan Yojana' which would focus on attracting investment and encouraging job creation among MSMEs in the state.
Under the scheme, the government would provide 40 per cent grant for setting up businesses in the state along with a provision of acquiring cheap land by providing 70 per cent of employment to locals and representation of STs, SCs, and OBCs.
Transforming as an 'Industrial hub', Bokaro will soon get a technology center to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The technology centre is proposed to be set up at Bokaro with an investment of Rs 200 crore.
As per government's instructions, Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Kumar instructed concerned officials to carry out the required job to set up a technology center in Bokaro.
According to DC, MSME ministry has decided to build a total of 20 technology centers across the country and Bokaro is one of them. These proposed technology centers will provide the necessary test facility to the entrepreneurs around them to set up small scale factories.
For Asia’s first ‘Integrated Leather Complex’ on the Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC) in Bantala, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal Government has plans to spend Rs 540 crore to develop its infrastructure. The complex will house several micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from leather sector.
As many as 100 tanneries from Kanpur are reportedly shifting there in the coming years.
State Finance and Industry & Commerce Minister, Dr Amit Mitra said this recently at the recently-held India, Leather and Accessories Fair in Kolkata.
Since the retail business in Odisha has picked up pace, the state government is all set to formulate a retail trade policy which will facilitate a favourable environment to the traders.
The policy will also take care of Ease of Doing Business (EODB), access to credit, adoption of technology, simplification of acts and rules, welfare of traders and creation of organised retail market infrastructure, etc.
Since, the players like Future Group, Reliance Trade, Food Court, NEXUS and several others are making inroads, major players in the retail trade have already made inroads to the State.
Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has invited Japanese steel companies Nippon Steel and Daido Steel to invest in India.
Pradhan said that he discussed with the company's officials ways to further strengthen cooperation through technology transfer and sharing of best practices to make the local steel industry more cost-effective.
"Met with representatives of Daido Steel Co. Ltd in Tokyo. Daido is one of the world's largest specialty steel manufacturers also dealing in high-performance materials, magnetic materials, parts for the automobile industry and industrial equipment," Pradhan said in a tweet.
The US and India are reportedly discussing a deal to allow the Trump administration to reinstate the Generalised System of Preference for India in exchange for certain market access commitments to America, a US Congressional report has informed the lawmakers.
The Generalised System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.
Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi urged the government of India to lift ban on onion export to neighbouring country.
Munshi who was in Guwahati on Tuesday to attend the India-Bangladesh stakeholders' meeting said, “ I have spoken to India’s Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal recently and he has assured that the export ban will be lifted after Maharashtra elections are over”.
According to FISME factor 66.7% MSMEs think that the RBI rate cut by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent will help to boost economic growth while 33.3% can’t say. 
Being in the business of people and performance, I constantly ask myself this question. How should organisations, especially in today’s disruptive business landscape, be agile in their thinking on hiring, developing and managing people? How should HR transform themselves to re-design talent-led strategies, structures, and workflows to nurture their organisation’s goals of differentiated growth?
It can be hard to navigate the world of finance, much less the highly competitive startup ecosystem. No matter what age you are, everyone should think about retirement planning, mutual funds, life insurance, savings and tax planning, all of which can be even more difficult if you’re already working to grow a new business (or keep an older one alive) at the same time.
First things first, to create a branding strategy, it's essential to set goals first. Whether you're an individual or a brand, you already have an online brand given you have a digital footprint.
Statistics suggest most people do search online before trusting any brand. You need to take control of your brand by ensuring that people see what you want to show them when they google about you or check your social media profiles.
The Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations (FOPSIA) President Badish Jindal said that Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) project hasn't been implemented on time in the city and people were allowed to set up industries without CETP.
FOPSIA president said this after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday ordered shutting down of all tanneries working in Jalandhar’s Leather Complex till they conform to norms for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants.
Newer electric vehicle (EV) models and technological advancements are making EV ownership more attractive.
The startup was founded back in 2017 by Shubham Jain and Indrajeet Rajpoot, both in their mid-twenties, when they saw EVs as a way to make a dent in the Indian automotive market.
Food traceability, from source to shelf, is gaining importance across India. Consumers are looking for fresher produce even as farmers eye avenues where they can sell farm-fresh goods. Enter Jaipur-based agritech startup FreshoKartz, which aims to integrate farms, farmers, vendors, traders, and customers on a common platform to structure the agricultural sector.
“
Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people.
”
