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President's Message
PM Modi’s recent speech while concluding the debate during the Budget session in the Parliament is of historical importance. It unambiguously places the trust on the private sector to be the engine of economic growth in India. The Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) will eventually be privatized. It has huge repercussions. FISME has consistently said that Government’s presence distorts the market and renders others sectors also uncompetitive. Whether it is electricity, steel, petroleum, banking, airlines, or insurance or telecom, not only have they sucked enormous resources over the years but encouraged propagation of a culture of high-cost but poor quality of goods and services both while buying and selling. Privatization will free-up much needed capital required for building hard and soft infrastructure in India. It will usher in a new era of greater competition in both product and service markets. Greater competition in banking sector will force banks to listen and cater to the needs of the MSMEs. We hope the momentum for aiding private sector will not be lost but gain further acceleration in months and years to come.
"
In the series of consultations for import substitution in select clusters, FISME organized virtual dialogue with major economic actors from Rohtak (Haryana) and Ludhiana(Punjab) for Nuts, bolts and fasteners for Ceramic products from Morvi and Thangarh (Gujarat). The discussions were organized as part of project ‘Creating a Roadmap for Substituting Chinese Imports by Building Manufacturing Capability in 15 Identified MSME Clusters being sponsored by SIDBI with Center for WTO studies as knowledge partner.
You had a great launch, but now you feel stuck. Revenue was rolling in, but now your customer base has plateaued or is actually shrinking. It’s a tale as old as the existence of startups. One of the most fundamental laws of business is that consumer needs, wants, and expectations will change over time, and the options for companies are dichotomous: adapt or fail.
The result is straightforward — businesses that experience sustained growth are those which successfully evolve their products and services to meet the needs of current customers and maintain the agility to quickly discover and act on the needs of future ones.
For India to grow, it must acknowledge the contribution of its private sector, and junk the Jurassic era’s deranged ideas of India’s political socialists who, for their own political agenda, wrongly project India’s Industrialists and entrepreneurs as ‘Class Enemies’ of people. Political socialists in India, who preach socialism for petty political gains, have some unique idiosyncrasies. Even though one would often find them lecturing about wealth distribution among the mass, yet they would, with impunity, always criticise, abhor and have utter disdain for wealth creators...
The Ministry of Finance has released the 15th weekly instalment of Rs 6,000 crore to the states to meet the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation shortfall.
''Out of this, an amount of Rs.5,516.60 crore has been released to 23 states and an amount of Rs 483.40 crore has been released to the 3 Union Territories (UT) with Legislative Assembly (Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir & Puducherry) who are members of the GST Council. The remaining 5 states, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation,'' an official statement said on Friday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced to purchase government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 20,000 crore.
''On a review of current liquidity and financial conditions, therefore, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct purchase of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 20,000 crore on February 10, 2021,'' the bank said in a statement on Monday.
Country's apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept the policy rates unchanged at 4.0 per cent.
‘’The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, has decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 4.0 per cent,’’ said RBI. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 4.25 per cent.
The government has made it mandatory for all four-wheelers across the country to have FASTags starting February 15 midnights.
''Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided that all lanes in the fee plazas on National Highways shall be declared as “FASTag lane of the fee plaza” w.e.f midnight of 15th/16th February 2021.Therefore, as per NH Fee Rules 2008, any vehicle not fitted with FASTag or vehicle without valid, functional FASTag entering into the FASTag lane of the fee plaza shall pay a fee equivalent to two times of the fee applicable to that category,'' an official statement said on Sunday.
Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has said that the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) has accorded guarantee approval to 67,171 loan accounts of women entrepreneurs for an amount of Rs 3,366.63 crore as of December 12, 2020, in the current financial year.
He informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question on the number of women entrepreneurs who benefited under the government scheme for easy credit availability.
Rajya Sabha passed Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020 on Wednesday today. The Bill was moved by Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State (In charge) for Ports, Shipping &Waterways. Now the Bill will go to the President of India for his assent, according to an official statement.
To promote the expansion of port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce, the Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 bill aims at decentralizing decision making and to infuse professionalism in governance of major ports. It imparts faster and transparent decision making benefiting the stakeholders and better project execution capability.
Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has said around 91 lakh guarantees under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee (ECLGS) Scheme have been issued till January 25 this year.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday, he said, "Under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, around 91 lakh guarantees have been issued till 25.01.2021." He also informed the upper house that during the current financial year (April-December), a total number of 31,923 units were setup under the ongoing Prime Minister Employment Generation programme (PMEGP) and 5,21,746 guarantees were issued under another ongoing scheme - Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises.
Commissioner Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Jammu Manoj Kumar Dwivedi has said that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government would do away with a lot of Non Objection Certificate (NoCs) for ease of doing business (EODB).
While speaking in a webinar organised by the ASSOCHAM on “J&K Udyam Registrations” to create awareness among industries about the registration process and its benefits, he said, “I would like to announce from this platform that the existing industries will also be covered in the New Industrial policy, which will be out soon and the government is going to do away with a lot of NoCs for ease of doing business,” Dwivedi said.
Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO), a Rajasthan government undertaking has identified four new industrial areas with a total plots of 1711 for e-auction.
As per the advertisements Brochure of RIICO, the four new industrial areas are Abu road-Badgaon, Abu road-Udwaria, Ajmer-Raghunathpura and Bhilwara-Karanpura. Of 1711 plots 683 are industrial lands while 718 are industrial lands and 149 are commercial lands. It also includes 130 shops and 31 lands for kiosks, weigh bridge, nursing home, institutional and hotel.
In a bid to strengthen e-commerce linkages for MSMEs in Haryana, Power2SME has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Haryana government.
The MoU was signed between Sudha Sarin, Senior Vice President, Power2SME Pvt Ltd, and Vikas Gupta, IAS, Director General, Directorate of MSME, Haryana in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala. The MoU envisages focused conversations on digital enablement, empowerment & enhanced market access for MSMEs of Haryana.
Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has entered into a co-lending agreement for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) loans with LoanTap Credit Products Pvt Ltd, a Pune-based non-banking finance company.
The co-lending model provides ease of loan sanctions at borrower’s convenience through digital lending platforms, which cover end-to-end loan processing cycles without manual intervention or visiting bank branches. Under the co-lending model, the bank will have an exposure of up to 80 per cent to an MSME customer. LoanTap will take the balance exposure.
With a robust economic foundation based on job creation and shared prosperity, trade and investment between the United Kingdom (UK) and India has the potential to increase to £50 billion, according to a new research report.
ASCENT, the New Horizon of Trade Relations, an inaugural thought leadership report, maps the dynamics of trade growth between the UK and India in the context of a 48 per cent rise in bilateral trade from 2016 to £24 billion in 2019. The data and insights in the report highlight the extent of the UK-India trade relationship and showcases the richness of British and Indian investments in one another’s countries.
The 1st High-Level Dialogue (HLD) between India and European Union was held on 5th February 2021 to boost bilateral trade & investment.
The meeting was co-chaired by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President & Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, according to an official statement. Commitment to the establishment of this dialogue was a major outcome of the 15th India-EU Leader’s Summit held in July 2020, with an objective for Ministerial level guidance towards the bilateral trade and investment relations.
How employee autonomy aids innovation & creative thinking
Gone are the days of reporting to the manager with files and folders after a work is completed. The pandemic has set every employee free from the stern eyes of the bosses, allowing them the space to make their own decisions about how to perform the assigned work and when.
5 Tips to Stay Focused on Your Financial Goals in 2021
This is the fourth in a series of original columns for Entrepreneur.com by Laura D. Adams that will publish two Mondays a month. And don't forget to purchase a copy of Adams' latest book for Entrepreneur Press, Money-Smart Solopreneur: A Personal Finance System for Freelancers, Entrepreneurs, and Side-Hustlers, via Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | IndieBound.
To say that 2020 was a year of ups and downs is putting it lightly. It was especially turbulent if you are a business owner. Your company likely had to contend with some major upheavals, stressors and challenges. In fact, 92% of small businesses reported that they had to “reinvent themselves” in order to weather the Covid-19 crisis.
Semiconductor shortage force PV retail sales to dip by 4 per cent in January
Passenger Vehicle (PV) retail sales in January witnessed a year-on-year decline of 4.46 per cent to 2,81,666 units, as semiconductor shortage impacted the segment, said Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).
This Pune-based startup aims to empower farmers with green energy solutions
An attempt to cut farmers’ dependence on fossil fuels led a biogas executive to start an aggregator that offers a slew of renewable energy options, along with personalised guidance and maintenance services. Vimal Panjwani founded AgriVijay in 2020 with his mother and retired government officer Shobha Chanchlani to provide farmers a wide range of green energy equipment tailored to their needs and infrastructure set-up.
Pune-based Paivi is joining the green mission with eco-friendly, everyday-use items
Ruchi Jain had few entrepreneurial role models around her growing up. But she knew getting into business for herself was something she definitely wanted to do. As she was noodling over ideas, she realised that the easiest place to start would be to sell something that everyone uses, every day — except her product would take things to the next level. She created a research thesis for toothbrushes, and then tried to replicate it for straws — two products that were widely used, had everyday implications, and could be scaled.
National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the quick estimates of index of industrial production and use-based index for the month of December, 2020 (base 2011-12=100)
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.
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PM Modi’s recent speech while concluding the debate during the Budget session in the Parliament is of historical importance. It unambiguously places the trust on the private sector to be the engine of economic growth in India. The Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) will eventually be privatized. It has huge repercussions. FISME has consistently said that Government’s presence distorts the market and renders others sectors also uncompetitive. Whether it is electricity, steel, petroleum, banking, airlines, or insurance or telecom, not only have they sucked enormous resources over the years but encouraged propagation of a culture of high-cost but poor quality of goods and services both while buying and selling. Privatization will free-up much needed capital required for building hard and soft infrastructure in India. It will usher in a new era of greater competition in both product and service markets. Greater competition in banking sector will force banks to listen and cater to the needs of the MSMEs. We hope the momentum for aiding private sector will not be lost but gain further acceleration in months and years to come.
"
In the series of consultations for import substitution in select clusters, FISME organized virtual dialogue with major economic actors from Rohtak (Haryana) and Ludhiana(Punjab) for Nuts, bolts and fasteners for Ceramic products from Morvi and Thangarh (Gujarat). The discussions were organized as part of project ‘Creating a Roadmap for Substituting Chinese Imports by Building Manufacturing Capability in 15 Identified MSME Clusters being sponsored by SIDBI with Center for WTO studies as knowledge partner.
You had a great launch, but now you feel stuck. Revenue was rolling in, but now your customer base has plateaued or is actually shrinking. It’s a tale as old as the existence of startups. One of the most fundamental laws of business is that consumer needs, wants, and expectations will change over time, and the options for companies are dichotomous: adapt or fail.
The result is straightforward — businesses that experience sustained growth are those which successfully evolve their products and services to meet the needs of current customers and maintain the agility to quickly discover and act on the needs of future ones.
The Ministry of Finance has released the 15th weekly instalment of Rs 6,000 crore to the states to meet the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation shortfall.
''Out of this, an amount of Rs.5,516.60 crore has been released to 23 states and an amount of Rs 483.40 crore has been released to the 3 Union Territories (UT) with Legislative Assembly (Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir & Puducherry) who are members of the GST Council. The remaining 5 states, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation,'' an official statement said on Friday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced to purchase government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 20,000 crore.
''On a review of current liquidity and financial conditions, therefore, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct purchase of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 20,000 crore on February 10, 2021,'' the bank said in a statement on Monday.
Country's apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept the policy rates unchanged at 4.0 per cent.
‘’The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, has decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 4.0 per cent,’’ said RBI. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 4.25 per cent.
The government has made it mandatory for all four-wheelers across the country to have FASTags starting February 15 midnights.
''Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided that all lanes in the fee plazas on National Highways shall be declared as “FASTag lane of the fee plaza” w.e.f midnight of 15th/16th February 2021.Therefore, as per NH Fee Rules 2008, any vehicle not fitted with FASTag or vehicle without valid, functional FASTag entering into the FASTag lane of the fee plaza shall pay a fee equivalent to two times of the fee applicable to that category,'' an official statement said on Sunday.
Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has said that the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) has accorded guarantee approval to 67,171 loan accounts of women entrepreneurs for an amount of Rs 3,366.63 crore as of December 12, 2020, in the current financial year.
He informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question on the number of women entrepreneurs who benefited under the government scheme for easy credit availability.
Rajya Sabha passed Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020 on Wednesday today. The Bill was moved by Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State (In charge) for Ports, Shipping &Waterways. Now the Bill will go to the President of India for his assent, according to an official statement.
To promote the expansion of port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce, the Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 bill aims at decentralizing decision making and to infuse professionalism in governance of major ports. It imparts faster and transparent decision making benefiting the stakeholders and better project execution capability.
Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari has said around 91 lakh guarantees under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee (ECLGS) Scheme have been issued till January 25 this year.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday, he said, "Under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, around 91 lakh guarantees have been issued till 25.01.2021." He also informed the upper house that during the current financial year (April-December), a total number of 31,923 units were setup under the ongoing Prime Minister Employment Generation programme (PMEGP) and 5,21,746 guarantees were issued under another ongoing scheme - Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises.
Commissioner Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Jammu Manoj Kumar Dwivedi has said that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government would do away with a lot of Non Objection Certificate (NoCs) for ease of doing business (EODB).
While speaking in a webinar organised by the ASSOCHAM on “J&K Udyam Registrations” to create awareness among industries about the registration process and its benefits, he said, “I would like to announce from this platform that the existing industries will also be covered in the New Industrial policy, which will be out soon and the government is going to do away with a lot of NoCs for ease of doing business,” Dwivedi said.
Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO), a Rajasthan government undertaking has identified four new industrial areas with a total plots of 1711 for e-auction.
As per the advertisements Brochure of RIICO, the four new industrial areas are Abu road-Badgaon, Abu road-Udwaria, Ajmer-Raghunathpura and Bhilwara-Karanpura. Of 1711 plots 683 are industrial lands while 718 are industrial lands and 149 are commercial lands. It also includes 130 shops and 31 lands for kiosks, weigh bridge, nursing home, institutional and hotel.
In a bid to strengthen e-commerce linkages for MSMEs in Haryana, Power2SME has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Haryana government.
The MoU was signed between Sudha Sarin, Senior Vice President, Power2SME Pvt Ltd, and Vikas Gupta, IAS, Director General, Directorate of MSME, Haryana in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala. The MoU envisages focused conversations on digital enablement, empowerment & enhanced market access for MSMEs of Haryana.
Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has entered into a co-lending agreement for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) loans with LoanTap Credit Products Pvt Ltd, a Pune-based non-banking finance company.
The co-lending model provides ease of loan sanctions at borrower’s convenience through digital lending platforms, which cover end-to-end loan processing cycles without manual intervention or visiting bank branches. Under the co-lending model, the bank will have an exposure of up to 80 per cent to an MSME customer. LoanTap will take the balance exposure.
With a robust economic foundation based on job creation and shared prosperity, trade and investment between the United Kingdom (UK) and India has the potential to increase to £50 billion, according to a new research report.
ASCENT, the New Horizon of Trade Relations, an inaugural thought leadership report, maps the dynamics of trade growth between the UK and India in the context of a 48 per cent rise in bilateral trade from 2016 to £24 billion in 2019. The data and insights in the report highlight the extent of the UK-India trade relationship and showcases the richness of British and Indian investments in one another’s countries.
The 1st High-Level Dialogue (HLD) between India and European Union was held on 5th February 2021 to boost bilateral trade & investment.
The meeting was co-chaired by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President & Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, according to an official statement. Commitment to the establishment of this dialogue was a major outcome of the 15th India-EU Leader’s Summit held in July 2020, with an objective for Ministerial level guidance towards the bilateral trade and investment relations.
According to FISME factor 40% of MSMEs think that the union budget 2021 is beneficial for Indian MSMEs, 20% think it is not while 30% can’t say. 
Gone are the days of reporting to the manager with files and folders after a work is completed. The pandemic has set every employee free from the stern eyes of the bosses, allowing them the space to make their own decisions about how to perform the assigned work and when.
This is the fourth in a series of original columns for Entrepreneur.com by Laura D. Adams that will publish two Mondays a month. And don't forget to purchase a copy of Adams' latest book for Entrepreneur Press, Money-Smart Solopreneur: A Personal Finance System for Freelancers, Entrepreneurs, and Side-Hustlers, via Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | IndieBound.
To say that 2020 was a year of ups and downs is putting it lightly. It was especially turbulent if you are a business owner. Your company likely had to contend with some major upheavals, stressors and challenges. In fact, 92% of small businesses reported that they had to “reinvent themselves” in order to weather the Covid-19 crisis.
Passenger Vehicle (PV) retail sales in January witnessed a year-on-year decline of 4.46 per cent to 2,81,666 units, as semiconductor shortage impacted the segment, said Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).
An attempt to cut farmers’ dependence on fossil fuels led a biogas executive to start an aggregator that offers a slew of renewable energy options, along with personalised guidance and maintenance services. Vimal Panjwani founded AgriVijay in 2020 with his mother and retired government officer Shobha Chanchlani to provide farmers a wide range of green energy equipment tailored to their needs and infrastructure set-up.
Ruchi Jain had few entrepreneurial role models around her growing up. But she knew getting into business for herself was something she definitely wanted to do. As she was noodling over ideas, she realised that the easiest place to start would be to sell something that everyone uses, every day — except her product would take things to the next level. She created a research thesis for toothbrushes, and then tried to replicate it for straws — two products that were widely used, had everyday implications, and could be scaled.
“ Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
”
