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President's Message
"
Finally the Reserve Bank of India has also conceded in the Standing Committee meeting held recently what associations have been saying for long: MSMEs remain at the receiving end of the Banks. The Deputy Governor RBI asked Banks to seriously ponder over the fact that whether it is the customer service or processing of loans or cost of finance or need for restructuring, MSMEs are handed the worst deal. Sounding the warning, he said that with imminent entry of more private banks the competition was set to be fierce. It is time banks listened to their MSME customers.
"
FISME organized interaction of the delegates from Pakistani chambers in Bangalore with Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) on 21st March and with Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on 22nd March respectively.
While seminar on trade opportunities between India and Pakistan (with KASSIA), FISME’s past President Mr. Mohan Suresh and President KASSIA Mr. B P Shashidhar welcomed the delegation and asked his counterparts from Pakistan to foster effective and mutually beneficial trade ties.
National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NIMSME) and Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) organised a one day workshop titled “Emerging Roles of MSME Business Membership Organizations (BMOs)” on 21st March 2014 at their Hyderabad campus with the support of GIZ under the EU Switch Asia Project. The workshop received an interactive participation of 14 leading associations of Andhra Pradesh.
During the workshop a special session was convened for the leaders of the associations on how they could leverage Knowledge and News Network (KNN) for advocacy and knowledge dissemination. KNN is an initiative promoted by FISME with support from German development agency- GIZ.
In a major breakthrough, FISME organized a ‘Dialogue’ with a group comprising of all major Pakistani Chambers from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad in New Delhi on 19th March 2014. The 16 member multi sector delegation was visiting India on the invite of FISME as part of a bilateral trade promotion initiative between India and Pakistan, under the aegis of a GIZ sponsored project ‘SAARC Trade Information Network on South Asian region’ (Nepal). FISME had earlier taken the delegation to Pakistan recently.
- Mike Kacsmar, EY Partner and Entrepreneur Of The Year® (EOY) Americas Program Director
I often ask people, what made you become an entrepreneur? It’s rare that anyone tells me that they did it to become rich. Entrepreneurship isn’t a retirement plan. It’s an inbred trait that you either have or you don’t. And those that don’t force it are the ones we’re honoring each year at our Entrepreneur Of The Year galas. One solid way to explain it comes from Daniel Lubetzky, who founded KIND: “I don’t think it was ever a conscious decision to become an entrepreneur. I think I’ve always had the mindset and inclination to start things. I like to think about issues or problems in the world and try to figure out if I can create a solution … that is both economically sustainable and socially impactful.”
[EY-Voice - 5 Essential Lessons From Entrepreneurs - Forbes]
In the early hours of February 20th 2010 Uday Vir Singh, an Indian forestry officer, bluffed his way past a private militia guarding a dusty port called Belekeri. For months suspicious-looking convoys of trucks had been thundering across India to the port’s quays on the country’s west coast, just south of the Goan beach where the super-spy mayhem which opened “The Bourne Supremacy” was filmed.
Mr Singh is no more a Jason Bourne than the next entomologist—he has a doctorate on metamorphosis in insects—and the infiltration he mounted with a few colleagues led to no gunplay.
The RBI has relaxed some of the restrictions relating to hedging of currency risk of probable exposures of exporters and importers. This will give them greater operational flexibility.
Contracts booked up to 75 per cent of the eligible limit may be cancelled with the exporter/importer bearing/being entitled to the loss or gain as the case may be, the RBI said in a notification.
The eligible limit in the case of exporters is computed as the average of the previous three financial years’ (April to March) actual export turnover or the previous year’s actual export turnover, whichever is higher.
It is not only the banks but also the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) which will come under a sharp RBI scanner to reduce stressed assets.
The Reserve Bank has come out with final guidelines for the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with regard to the early detection and recovery of bad loans which will be effective from April 1.
The corrective action plan to arrest increasing NPAs requires that “early recognition of Stress and Reporting to Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC); before a loan account turns into an NPA, NBFCs will be required to identify incipient stress in the account by creating a sub-asset category 'special mention accounts' (SMA)," the RBI said yesterday.
Sugar output in India, the world's largest producer after Brazil, is set to climb for the first time in three years as a subsidy for raw exports and abundant dam water spur farmers to increase planting.
Production may gain 5 percent to 25 million metric tons in the harvesting season starting October 1, said M G Joshi, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd., which accounts for 48 percent of the national output. The area under the crop will increase in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the biggest growers, he said.
Riding on the excellent export performance of mint, chilli and seed spices, India’s spice exports has registered a 41 per cent growth in terms of rupee value during April-December 2013.
The period witnessed a total export of 57,1680 tonnes of spices and spice products valued ?9,433 crore as against 44,9926 tonnes valued at ?6,696 crore during April-December 2012. An increase of 27 per cent has been registered, both in terms of volume and dollar value.
The steady growth of spice exports reiterates the unshaken global demand for Indian spices. The conspicuous export performance of mint, chilli, value-added products and seed spices points to a promising future for the Indian spice industry, A Jayathilak, Chairman, Spices Board India told reporters here.
Giving respite to the sugar mills, which are dealing with the problem of low sugar prices and over production, Maharashtra government signed an MoU with the Maharashtra co-operative sugar mills federation on Thursday to procure sugar for its public distribution system (PDS) from the sugar co-operatives at the market rate for next three months.
Sanjiv Babar, managing director, Sakharsangh said, "We are happy that the government took this decision , which was our long standing demand." The government will buy 1.39 lakh quintal sugar from the sugar co-operatives in April for PDS distribution. There will be a new government in office in June, which will have to take the decision about making a permanent arrangement for buying sugar for public distribution.
The ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises has proposed to set up a fund for technology acquisition and support to assist the indigenous technology and acquisition of global technology by the India MSMEs. To this effect, A Technology Development Fund of Rs.10,000 crore is proposed for supporting MSMEs to undertake technology upgradation, acquisition, adaptation and innovation to enable them to move up the value chain.
The ministry also proposes to refine the current FDI policy in vogue to bring up capacity, capability and technology development of the SMEs. In respect of all large projects involving FDI, ancillary development should be made a condition, as per the recommendations of the report.
Microsoft is betting on the small and medium enterprises segment for the expansion and adoption of its cloud offering like Windows Azure, Office 365 and Dynamic CRM Online.
India, according to Microsoft, has over 40 million small businesses that contribute about 45% of India's industrial output. According to findings by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), over the past three years IT-enabled SMEs grew their revenues 20 percentage points faster and cloud services are playing a key role in SME growth.
In fact, Microsoft's Office Productivity Suite is used by 94% of Indian SMBs considered to be leaders in IT adoption and almost 70 per cent of these leaders use Internet Explorer, and nearly 40 per cent use Dynamics for business applications.
India's spice export has registered a growth of 41 per cent in rupee value during April-December 2013 with good export performance by cumin, Mint and mint products, and chilli.
The total export during the period was of 571,680 tonnes of spices and spice products valued at Rs 9,433 crore as against 449,926 tonnes valued at Rs 6696 crore (USD 1,232 million) during April-December 2012.
An increase of 27 per cent has been registered, both in terms of volume and dollar value.
In an effort to promote the country’s handicrafts products, the Export Promotion Council For Handicrafts (EPCH) is organising an exhibition on housewares.
Home Expo will be held from April-15 to 18, at India Expo Mart in Noida.
The four-day event is a composite platform for showcasing India’s products for the Home segment, comprising 3 sub shows; Indian Furnishings, Floorings and Textiles Show (IFFTEX); Indian Houseware and Decoratives Show (IHDS) and Indian Furniture and Accessories Show (IFAS).
More than 600 exhibitors will put their products and services on display and will attract the attention of all major stakeholders of the industry.
Rolling out the new Companies Act, the government has notified rules for ten more chapters, including those related to powers of boards and appointment of directors.
Most parts of the Companies Act, 2013, that replaces the nearly six-decade old law that governs corporates in the country, would come into effect from April 1.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry has notified rules for ten more chapters of the new legislation.
Rules pertaining to registration of charges, management and administration, declaration and payment of dividend, meetings of board and its powers, appointment and qualification of directors, and accounts have been notified, according to various notifications dated March 27.
The Department of Science and Industrial Research (DSIR) will be financing the small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in carrying out research to enable them to acquire technology patent.
Loan for such research will come under the Paten Acquisition and Collaborative Research and Technology Development (PACE) scheme for funding development and demonstration of innovative product, traversing the laboratory stage to pilot stage, ready to be launched for commercialization.
DSIR wants to assist the SME companies in acquiring technology patent for a particular technology, ascertained through interactive workshops.
The nationalized banks will distribute a sum of Rs 2,389 crore in the form of loans to Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in 2014-15, out of which Rs 903 crore has been allocated for the small scale industries.
According to the Chief Lead Bank District Manager, around Rs 2,100 crore shall be distributed to the primary sector, while Rs 289 crore to the other sectors.
In primary sector Rs 763 crore has been allocated for agriculture loans and Rs 903 crore for small scale industries, reports media.
In a move to boost the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector in Tamil Nadu, the state government is planning to take up projects that will not only help the sector address financial constraints, but also issues relating to infrastructure and marketing. It has announced a package of incentives for the development of MSMEs to enable them to grow faster.
The state government has adopted a 'Cluster Development Approach' as a key strategy and allocated Rs 50 crore in 2014-15 as financial assistance to entrepreneurs' consortiums for establishing new industrial estates and also for shifting their industrial units to geographically defined areas for better management of power supply, infrastructure and pollution-related issues.
At a time when Uttarakhand is offering a mega industrial policy, new Chief Minister Harish Rawat is focusing on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
"I am not focusing on industrialisation. My entire focus will be on saving the precious ecology of the hill state and promoting small, employment-oriented units, particularly in the tourism sector in the hills," Rawat told Business Standard.
By the time the Centre extended the package of hill-based incentives in 2003, the process of industrialisation had taken a big leap, and states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana began opposing the tax incentives. Finally, the Centre curtailed the package to seven years.
The Department of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles, Government of West Bengal has sanctioned the implementation of a new scheme for MSMEs in the state to ensure growth and development of the sector.
The West Bengal Incentive Scheme 2013 (WBIS-2013) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was unveiled on February-3.
“The object of the Scheme is to extend fiscal incentives to encourage entrepreneurs to set up Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with a view to focusing on development of MSMEs in the backward region of the State and creating a sustainable ecosystem in the MSME sector which can maximize the utilization of resource and widen the area of operation to make the State emerge as the MSME leader in the country,” an official notification said.
Upping the ante against Switzerland for not sharing information on Indians stashing money in its banks, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has threatened to drag the European nation to multilateral foras like G20 for continuing to block its requests.
Chidambaram, in a terse two-page letter to his Swiss counterpart Eveline Widmer Schlumpf, reminded him of the April 2009 declaration adopted by G20 leaders stating the "era of bank secrecy is over."
In a strongly worded letter, he said India might examine further steps like declaring Switzerland a non-cooperative jurisdiction if non-cooperation continues.
India and Qatar have held detailed discussions on bilateral trade cooperation in a number of areas including sectors like investment, banking and finance, energy, petrochemicals and fertilizers, civil aviation and tourism.
An 18-member high-level official delegation led by Under Secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Government of Qatar, Sultan bin Rashid Al Khater, visited the national capital on March-25 and 26.
The two delegations had cordial and productive discussions in the framework of the historically close and friendly relations, and the multi-dimensional and growing cooperation between India and Qatar.
India and China would look at collaborations in semi-high speed rail and building world-class railway stations. This was decided at the strategic and economic dialogue between the two countries earlier this month when an Indian delegation, headed by Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had visited Beijing.
"We have discussed participation for raising speed on existing tracks to about 160-200 kilometres per hour wherein they could provide technical support," said Arunendra Kumar, chairman of the Railway Board.
TAspirants for the much coveted H-1B visa could start submitting their applications from April 1, a federal US agency has announced.
As in the previous years, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas, which is most popular among IT professionals and companies in IT services.
With the American economy recovering and much emphasis on information technology sector both by Obama Administration and the private sector, the demand for H-1B visas is expected to be met in the first few days of April 1, experts note.
According to the FISME Factor, 72 per cent of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), think that the results of pre-election opinion polls do influence voters.
Are you working endlessly but not accomplishing all you want? In my executive coaching practice, I help clients reach peak performance by actually doing less work at key times — and by engaging in downtime activities that cutting-edge research shows to be effective in boosting productivity.
Here are tips for getting downtime so that you can perform better than ever: daydream as often as you want. Letting your mind wander has significant benefits... Researchers argue that "constructive internal reflection" — the term for daydreaming and related "rest" states —is essential for learning, problem-solving and goal-setting.
Angel investors warm up to non-technology startups
Angel investors who have preferred to watch over technology startups in India so far are now looking to include young companies from other sectors under their wings. As a rising tide of entrepreneurship spreads across the country, networks of investors are backing companies that provide clean technology, healthcare, food and education services.
Offline hot deals that work in times of Internet shopping
Sailesh Patel, an accountant in Ahmedabad, owns the latest gadgets and has access to high-speed Internet. He recently bought a brand new LCD TV through a hot deal offered by home-shopping firm Naaptol.com on a tele-shopping network. Rama Reddy, a housewife in Hyderabad bought a roti maker when she spotted a deal in the newspaper and dialled her order through the toll-free number.
Patel and Reddy are among a steady, growing number of small-town Indians who are addicted to hot deals offered by home-shopping, e-commerce company Naaptol.com.
Hurdles in business growth forcing entrepreneurs to mass exodus
Within the next six months, Bangalore based technology entrepreneur Jay Krishnan will be heading east in search of a better place to locate his fast-growing business. The 38-year-old cofounder of Wifinity, which builds technology that allows machines to talk to each other, set up the venture in 2010. Since then he has spent many hours navigating India's onerous regulatory maze and thinks that he has had enough. "It does not make any economic sense to stay here in India," said Krishnan, who has been constantly wooed by Singapore and Hong Kong over the last few months to set up shop.
Jharkhand is seeing the outbreak of a small but significant white revolution. Raya Dairy, a unit of HR Food Processing Pvt Ltd and the force behind a new wave of milk distribution in Ranchi, has recorded break-even within six months of starting operations.
Next on the agenda is a dairy-processing unit. "The dairy plant is being commissioned and we hope to commercially launch products by August 15 this year. In 2014-15, we want to record revenue of Rs 30 crore," says co-founder and marketing head Harsh Thakkar, betting highly on the processing unit.
From a salary of Rs 4,000, Vimal Patel now heads a Rs 50-cr retail chain
Dropping out of school in Class 7, and getting thrown out of the family home in Anand, Gujarat, for rowdy behaviour does not bode well for a career of any kind. Yet, today, I am the founder, chairman and managing director of the Rs 50 crore Suwarnsparsh Group.
After leaving school, I spent time loitering around with friends, but along the way, I managed to learn the gemstone polishing trade from my father, who was into polishing of rough diamonds. Then, one day, as a 20-year-old, an argument with a neighbour got out of hand and I roughed him up seriously.
Buy our one-of-a-kind guide to all industrial testing laboratories in India. Find the one most convenient for getting your products tested and certified. An invaluable compendium for all industrial units and exporters.
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Price: Rs 900.
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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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"
Finally the Reserve Bank of India has also conceded in the Standing Committee meeting held recently what associations have been saying for long: MSMEs remain at the receiving end of the Banks. The Deputy Governor RBI asked Banks to seriously ponder over the fact that whether it is the customer service or processing of loans or cost of finance or need for restructuring, MSMEs are handed the worst deal. Sounding the warning, he said that with imminent entry of more private banks the competition was set to be fierce. It is time banks listened to their MSME customers.
"
FISME organized interaction of the delegates from Pakistani chambers in Bangalore with Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) on 21st March and with Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on 22nd March respectively.
While seminar on trade opportunities between India and Pakistan (with KASSIA), FISME’s past President Mr. Mohan Suresh and President KASSIA Mr. B P Shashidhar welcomed the delegation and asked his counterparts from Pakistan to foster effective and mutually beneficial trade ties.
National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NIMSME) and Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) organised a one day workshop titled “Emerging Roles of MSME Business Membership Organizations (BMOs)” on 21st March 2014 at their Hyderabad campus with the support of GIZ under the EU Switch Asia Project. The workshop received an interactive participation of 14 leading associations of Andhra Pradesh.
During the workshop a special session was convened for the leaders of the associations on how they could leverage Knowledge and News Network (KNN) for advocacy and knowledge dissemination. KNN is an initiative promoted by FISME with support from German development agency- GIZ.
In a major breakthrough, FISME organized a ‘Dialogue’ with a group comprising of all major Pakistani Chambers from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad in New Delhi on 19th March 2014. The 16 member multi sector delegation was visiting India on the invite of FISME as part of a bilateral trade promotion initiative between India and Pakistan, under the aegis of a GIZ sponsored project ‘SAARC Trade Information Network on South Asian region’ (Nepal). FISME had earlier taken the delegation to Pakistan recently.
I often ask people, what made you become an entrepreneur? It’s rare that anyone tells me that they did it to become rich. Entrepreneurship isn’t a retirement plan. It’s an inbred trait that you either have or you don’t. And those that don’t force it are the ones we’re honoring each year at our Entrepreneur Of The Year galas. One solid way to explain it comes from Daniel Lubetzky, who founded KIND: “I don’t think it was ever a conscious decision to become an entrepreneur. I think I’ve always had the mindset and inclination to start things. I like to think about issues or problems in the world and try to figure out if I can create a solution … that is both economically sustainable and socially impactful.”
In the early hours of February 20th 2010 Uday Vir Singh, an Indian forestry officer, bluffed his way past a private militia guarding a dusty port called Belekeri. For months suspicious-looking convoys of trucks had been thundering across India to the port’s quays on the country’s west coast, just south of the Goan beach where the super-spy mayhem which opened “The Bourne Supremacy” was filmed.
Mr Singh is no more a Jason Bourne than the next entomologist—he has a doctorate on metamorphosis in insects—and the infiltration he mounted with a few colleagues led to no gunplay.
It is not only the banks but also the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) which will come under a sharp RBI scanner to reduce stressed assets.
The Reserve Bank has come out with final guidelines for the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with regard to the early detection and recovery of bad loans which will be effective from April 1.
The corrective action plan to arrest increasing NPAs requires that “early recognition of Stress and Reporting to Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC); before a loan account turns into an NPA, NBFCs will be required to identify incipient stress in the account by creating a sub-asset category 'special mention accounts' (SMA)," the RBI said yesterday.
Sugar output in India, the world's largest producer after Brazil, is set to climb for the first time in three years as a subsidy for raw exports and abundant dam water spur farmers to increase planting.
Production may gain 5 percent to 25 million metric tons in the harvesting season starting October 1, said M G Joshi, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd., which accounts for 48 percent of the national output. The area under the crop will increase in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the biggest growers, he said.
Riding on the excellent export performance of mint, chilli and seed spices, India’s spice exports has registered a 41 per cent growth in terms of rupee value during April-December 2013.
The period witnessed a total export of 57,1680 tonnes of spices and spice products valued ?9,433 crore as against 44,9926 tonnes valued at ?6,696 crore during April-December 2012. An increase of 27 per cent has been registered, both in terms of volume and dollar value.
The steady growth of spice exports reiterates the unshaken global demand for Indian spices. The conspicuous export performance of mint, chilli, value-added products and seed spices points to a promising future for the Indian spice industry, A Jayathilak, Chairman, Spices Board India told reporters here.
Giving respite to the sugar mills, which are dealing with the problem of low sugar prices and over production, Maharashtra government signed an MoU with the Maharashtra co-operative sugar mills federation on Thursday to procure sugar for its public distribution system (PDS) from the sugar co-operatives at the market rate for next three months.
Sanjiv Babar, managing director, Sakharsangh said, "We are happy that the government took this decision , which was our long standing demand." The government will buy 1.39 lakh quintal sugar from the sugar co-operatives in April for PDS distribution. There will be a new government in office in June, which will have to take the decision about making a permanent arrangement for buying sugar for public distribution.
India's spice export has registered a growth of 41 per cent in rupee value during April-December 2013 with good export performance by cumin, Mint and mint products, and chilli.
The total export during the period was of 571,680 tonnes of spices and spice products valued at Rs 9,433 crore as against 449,926 tonnes valued at Rs 6696 crore (USD 1,232 million) during April-December 2012.
An increase of 27 per cent has been registered, both in terms of volume and dollar value.
Rolling out the new Companies Act, the government has notified rules for ten more chapters, including those related to powers of boards and appointment of directors.
Most parts of the Companies Act, 2013, that replaces the nearly six-decade old law that governs corporates in the country, would come into effect from April 1.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry has notified rules for ten more chapters of the new legislation.
Rules pertaining to registration of charges, management and administration, declaration and payment of dividend, meetings of board and its powers, appointment and qualification of directors, and accounts have been notified, according to various notifications dated March 27.
The Department of Science and Industrial Research (DSIR) will be financing the small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in carrying out research to enable them to acquire technology patent.
Loan for such research will come under the Paten Acquisition and Collaborative Research and Technology Development (PACE) scheme for funding development and demonstration of innovative product, traversing the laboratory stage to pilot stage, ready to be launched for commercialization.
DSIR wants to assist the SME companies in acquiring technology patent for a particular technology, ascertained through interactive workshops.
The nationalized banks will distribute a sum of Rs 2,389 crore in the form of loans to Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in 2014-15, out of which Rs 903 crore has been allocated for the small scale industries.
According to the Chief Lead Bank District Manager, around Rs 2,100 crore shall be distributed to the primary sector, while Rs 289 crore to the other sectors.
In primary sector Rs 763 crore has been allocated for agriculture loans and Rs 903 crore for small scale industries, reports media.
In a move to boost the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector in Tamil Nadu, the state government is planning to take up projects that will not only help the sector address financial constraints, but also issues relating to infrastructure and marketing. It has announced a package of incentives for the development of MSMEs to enable them to grow faster.
The state government has adopted a 'Cluster Development Approach' as a key strategy and allocated Rs 50 crore in 2014-15 as financial assistance to entrepreneurs' consortiums for establishing new industrial estates and also for shifting their industrial units to geographically defined areas for better management of power supply, infrastructure and pollution-related issues.
The Department of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles, Government of West Bengal has sanctioned the implementation of a new scheme for MSMEs in the state to ensure growth and development of the sector.
The West Bengal Incentive Scheme 2013 (WBIS-2013) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was unveiled on February-3.
“The object of the Scheme is to extend fiscal incentives to encourage entrepreneurs to set up Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with a view to focusing on development of MSMEs in the backward region of the State and creating a sustainable ecosystem in the MSME sector which can maximize the utilization of resource and widen the area of operation to make the State emerge as the MSME leader in the country,” an official notification said.
Upping the ante against Switzerland for not sharing information on Indians stashing money in its banks, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has threatened to drag the European nation to multilateral foras like G20 for continuing to block its requests.
Chidambaram, in a terse two-page letter to his Swiss counterpart Eveline Widmer Schlumpf, reminded him of the April 2009 declaration adopted by G20 leaders stating the "era of bank secrecy is over."
In a strongly worded letter, he said India might examine further steps like declaring Switzerland a non-cooperative jurisdiction if non-cooperation continues.
India and Qatar have held detailed discussions on bilateral trade cooperation in a number of areas including sectors like investment, banking and finance, energy, petrochemicals and fertilizers, civil aviation and tourism.
An 18-member high-level official delegation led by Under Secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Government of Qatar, Sultan bin Rashid Al Khater, visited the national capital on March-25 and 26.
The two delegations had cordial and productive discussions in the framework of the historically close and friendly relations, and the multi-dimensional and growing cooperation between India and Qatar.
India and China would look at collaborations in semi-high speed rail and building world-class railway stations. This was decided at the strategic and economic dialogue between the two countries earlier this month when an Indian delegation, headed by Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had visited Beijing.
"We have discussed participation for raising speed on existing tracks to about 160-200 kilometres per hour wherein they could provide technical support," said Arunendra Kumar, chairman of the Railway Board.
TAspirants for the much coveted H-1B visa could start submitting their applications from April 1, a federal US agency has announced.
As in the previous years, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas, which is most popular among IT professionals and companies in IT services.
With the American economy recovering and much emphasis on information technology sector both by Obama Administration and the private sector, the demand for H-1B visas is expected to be met in the first few days of April 1, experts note.
According to the FISME Factor, 72 per cent of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), think that the results of pre-election opinion polls do influence voters.
Are you working endlessly but not accomplishing all you want? In my executive coaching practice, I help clients reach peak performance by actually doing less work at key times — and by engaging in downtime activities that cutting-edge research shows to be effective in boosting productivity.
Here are tips for getting downtime so that you can perform better than ever: daydream as often as you want. Letting your mind wander has significant benefits... Researchers argue that "constructive internal reflection" — the term for daydreaming and related "rest" states —is essential for learning, problem-solving and goal-setting.
Angel investors who have preferred to watch over technology startups in India so far are now looking to include young companies from other sectors under their wings. As a rising tide of entrepreneurship spreads across the country, networks of investors are backing companies that provide clean technology, healthcare, food and education services.
Sailesh Patel, an accountant in Ahmedabad, owns the latest gadgets and has access to high-speed Internet. He recently bought a brand new LCD TV through a hot deal offered by home-shopping firm Naaptol.com on a tele-shopping network. Rama Reddy, a housewife in Hyderabad bought a roti maker when she spotted a deal in the newspaper and dialled her order through the toll-free number.
Patel and Reddy are among a steady, growing number of small-town Indians who are addicted to hot deals offered by home-shopping, e-commerce company Naaptol.com.
Within the next six months, Bangalore based technology entrepreneur Jay Krishnan will be heading east in search of a better place to locate his fast-growing business. The 38-year-old cofounder of Wifinity, which builds technology that allows machines to talk to each other, set up the venture in 2010. Since then he has spent many hours navigating India's onerous regulatory maze and thinks that he has had enough. "It does not make any economic sense to stay here in India," said Krishnan, who has been constantly wooed by Singapore and Hong Kong over the last few months to set up shop.
Jharkhand is seeing the outbreak of a small but significant white revolution. Raya Dairy, a unit of HR Food Processing Pvt Ltd and the force behind a new wave of milk distribution in Ranchi, has recorded break-even within six months of starting operations.
Next on the agenda is a dairy-processing unit. "The dairy plant is being commissioned and we hope to commercially launch products by August 15 this year. In 2014-15, we want to record revenue of Rs 30 crore," says co-founder and marketing head Harsh Thakkar, betting highly on the processing unit.
Dropping out of school in Class 7, and getting thrown out of the family home in Anand, Gujarat, for rowdy behaviour does not bode well for a career of any kind. Yet, today, I am the founder, chairman and managing director of the Rs 50 crore Suwarnsparsh Group.
After leaving school, I spent time loitering around with friends, but along the way, I managed to learn the gemstone polishing trade from my father, who was into polishing of rough diamonds. Then, one day, as a 20-year-old, an argument with a neighbour got out of hand and I roughed him up seriously.
" Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless. " 
Buy our one-of-a-kind guide to all industrial testing laboratories in India. Find the one most convenient for getting your products tested and certified. An invaluable compendium for all industrial units and exporters.
