If you are unable to view this mailer, click here.
President's Message
" The SAARC region has a dubious distinction that in a globalized world it is one of the few regions having least intra-regional trade. Earlier the reason for low trade was political diffidence among nations. Now while the political will to integrate is reflected in South Asian Free Tarde Agreement (SAFTA), the structural and institutional hurdles remain in the form of NTBs and NTMs. While implementing a Juice Value Chain project (supported by GIZ) in the region we realized how much of a ‘win-win’ it would be if these hurdles are addressed. India is a large consumer of fruit juices and imports fruit concentrate/ nectar in large quantities. In SAARC, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka produce these fruit concentrates and export to other countries but not to India. All would be better off if trade across the borders. Key reasons for not doing so: standards, mutual recognition agreements between testing labs, lack of information. The project tried to build capacities of suppliers in these countries to comply Indian standards. There is an important lesson: it is critical to upgrade our standards and testing lab infrastructure so that our businesses can also export to new markets especially in product categories where standards are more important such as Food, Pharma, Electrical, Electronics and Telecom.
"
Request for Feedback/Comments for Export/Import Policies
Govt. of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry is holding consultations with Trade bodies, members of Board of Trade. FISME as member of Board is to represent MSME concerns. Please share your views on issues such as ease of doing trade, cost reduction for transport & finance, grievance redressal, support needed for finding new export markets among others.
Please send reply through email to sg@fisme.org.in by 5th April 2016
FISME organised SAARC Pavilion in Aahar International 2016, held in Pragati Maidan from 15 to 19 March, 2016. 10 Fruit Juice manufacturers of three important Fruit producing SAARC countries ,Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka showcased their products at the Pavilion. Besides having good business enquiry, the fair provided the participants a strong insight into the vast market for processed food items in India.
The pavilion is culmination of a long, enduring effort of FISME, to upscale trade of the agro- horticultural produce within the SAARC region.
The Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) organized a workshop on ‘Regional Trade Development in Juice and Juice Products in SAARC countries: Opportunities and Challenges’.
Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), was the chief guest at the event. While addressing the event, he said, “Specific customs related issues of Fruit Juice importers should be looked into. On a pilot scale FSSAI should recognise food testing laboratories of Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka to prevent re-testing of food imports from these countries.”
Dr Sangam Kurade, President, FISME, said that the food industry is growing at the rate of 15 per cent YoY currently which is fastest amongst all other sectors.
“It is an excellent thought process from FISME which has taken a lead in removing trade barriers in the fruit juice sector,” Dr Kurade said.
A business delegation from China visited the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) headquarters on 21st March 2016.
The visiting delegation came from Ruili city in the Yunnan Province of China. It is a major border crossing between China and Myanmar.
An interactive meeting was held between FISME and Chinese delegation to explore possible business opportunities between the two sides.
The delegation included entrepreneurs from FMCG and automobile.
Shand Chaoxian, General Manager, Ruili Darton Industry; Zhu Weihua, Director, Ruili Industrial and Commercial Bureau; Tiang Huaigang, Director, The Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Ruili City; and Yang Xianghong, Mayor, The Pople’s Government of Ruili City were a part of the visiting delegation.
Whereas from FISME, Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General; Debashis Bandhopadhyay, Director, Policy; Mukesh Kalra, Joint Secretary; V N Shastry, Joint Secretary attended the meeting.
FISME organized an interactive meeting of the MSMEs with the experts from World Bank to deliberate on how to facilitate Easy flow of credit to MSMEs through a robust credit information system and identifying gaps in present credit information systems.
The meeting was organized keeping in view the growing importance of credit information in today’s global business operations and about the functioning of the credit information bureaus, particularly, Credit Information Bureau of India Limited (CIBIL).
A good or bad CIBIL score often makes or breaks loan application, particularly personal loan applications.
“In India, credit information is not given much importance by the banks for business loans. However, in developed economies, it is an important tool for sourcing credit and also plays an important role in deciding the rate of interest,” FISME said in a press note.
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is the richest man in China and the 18th richest man in the world. Through his successes, he's learned the power of one valuable piece of advice:
You cannot unify everyone’s thoughts, but you can unify everyone through a common goal.
Establishing new ground rules, the Real Estate Bill paves the way for winning back consumer and investor confidence…
it is bound to create significant upheavals for the industry and the entire supply chain
As per the provisions of Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2020), Government of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry has reconstituted the Board of Trade. Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) has been nominated to the Board to represent MSMEs.
The objective of the Board is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry and advise the Government on policy measures related to Foreign Trade. The first meeting of the reconstituted Board is to held on 6th April 2016 in New Delhi.
The Board is chaired by Union Commerce & Industry Minister and has over 20 Secretary level officers representing relevant Ministries and Departments. Besides FISME, industry bodies which are member of Board include CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and FIEO.
The government on Tuesday clarified that 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in online marketplaces, a move that will ostensibly come as a relief to ecommerce companies such as Flipkart, Amazon India and Snapdeal but the conditions imposed have been hailed as a victory by their brick-and-mortar rivals. Critically, a clause bars marketplaces from offering discounts on their own — these have to come from the vendors on the platforms — and the policy also seeks to end "predatory pricing" by online companies.
Indian corporates raised over $1.35 billion (around Rs 9,000 crore) from overseas markets in February, down 40.2 per cent over the same month a year ago, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed on Tuesday.
Domestic firms had raised $2.26 billion overseas in February last year.
The funds were raised using financial instruments such as external commercial borrowings (ECBs).
Of the total borrowings during the month, $1.02 billion was raised through the automatic route while $330 million came via the approval route. Only one firm, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, raised the entire $330 million through the approval route that was meant to be used for the refinance company's earlier ECB.
India’s retail inflation for March is expected to be around 5 per cent and the Reserve Bank is likely to cut its key rate by 25 basis points each at its policy reviews on April 5 as well as in August, says a report.
According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML), its inflation indicator is tracking March CPI inflation at 5 per cent, slightly lower than February’s 5.2 per cent.
“We continue to expect the RBI to cut rates 25 bps on April 5 and in August,” BofA-ML said in a research note.
In credit ratings, the number of upgrades is 6.8 times the number of downgrades for large firms with low leverage; for medium-sized firms the ratio is 3.9; and for small firms it is 6.3, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PM was addressing at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum, 2016.
He said that there has been a smart pick-up in credit growth after September 2015. Credit off-take between February 2015 and February 2016 increased by 11.5 per cent. The overall fund flow to the corporate sector through equity and borrowings of various kinds, domestic and foreign, has increased in the first three quarters of 2015-16 by over 30 per cent.
“There are some very interesting figures on credit ratings,” Modi said.
Worried about exports falling two years in a row, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a meeting with export bodies, including export promotion councils, next week to assess the situation and see if there is a need for further government intervention.
“The meeting with exporters has been tentatively scheduled for April 5. The Minister wants to meet representatives from all important sectors to get their assessment of the global situation and see if the government can do anything to improve the situation,” a Ministry official said.
After the launch of the much awaited Defence Procurement Policy 2016 on Monday, the Defence Experts have opined that the separate bidding process for MSMEs under 'Make' procedure will not only boost domestic industries but would also make foreign companies bring down their prices.
The ‘Make’ procedure of Acquisition in the DPP gives impetus for MSME sector.
Under the Make-I and Make-II categories, only the MSMEs with certain criteria would be eligible for bidding.
Talking to KNN, PC Tripathi, President, Defence and Strategic Industries Association of India, said, “The domestic companies will benefit from the DPP-2016. India currently imports most of the small items, of around Rs 2,000 crore, from the other countries. Now with the separate bidding for MSMEs, the items will be manufactured in India and the foreign companies too will bring down their process to become competitive.”
The first meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade (BoT) will be held on April 6 in the national capital. The objective of BOT is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry.
The Board of Trade would, inter-alia, advice the Government on policy measures related to Foreign Trade Policy in order to achieve the objective of boosting India’s trade.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had re-constituted the BOT recently.
Reconstituted BOT comprises of 19 members from industry & academia (Non-official Members); 31 heads of trade & industry associations (Ex-officio Members); 20 top officials including 13 secretaries to government of India, Deputy Governor, RBI, Chairman, Railway Board, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India, Chairman and MD, ECGC, Managing Director, EXIM Bank, Chairman and MD, SBI and Managing Director, Container Corporation of India (Official Members).
One more pet scheme of the Modi government — the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) — could notch up a record of sorts, going by the number of new entrepreneurs financed within a short span of 12 months.
In the last one year, about 1.5 crore new entrepreneurs have got support from banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to set up small businesses under the Yojana, which was launched last April to support small entrepreneurs.
Overall, 3.22 crore new as well as existing entrepreneurs have been sanctioned loans under PMMY. Women entrepreneurs account for about 78 per cent (or 2.52 crore) of the total number of borrowers. And this is no mean achievement.
Under PMMY, loans are given by banks and MFIs under three categories — Shishu (loans up to ₹50,000); Kishor (loans above ₹50,000 and up to ₹5 lakh); and Tarun (loans above ₹5 lakh and up to ₹10 lakh).
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday revised rules pertaining to revival of advances to small businesses and asked lenders to form district-level committees to resolve stressed loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
"In order to enable faster resolution of stress in an MSME account, every bank shall form Committees for Stressed MSME," RBI said in a notification.
The rules have been revised for "revival and rehabilitation of MSMEs having loan limits up to Rs 25 crore".
Odisha has topped with over 17 per cent share in the total live investments worth about Rs 33 lakh crore attracted by manufacturing sector across India, according to a recent study.
Gujarat has ranked second in terms of share in total outstanding investments attracted by manufacturing sector in India followed by Karnataka (11 per cent), Jharkhand (nine per cent) and Chhattisgarh (seven per cent)noted the study titled ‘Impact analysis of delay in investment implementation in manufacturing,’ conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
Agitated over protection given to the steel industry in the country, an industry body has said that the current state of the steel industry, having stressed assets, is mainly because of the loans given to them by the PSBs were diverted into some other activities rather than manufacturing steel.
The Apex Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI), Punjab, has written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley urging the government to substantially reduce the “content of protection given to few steel players”.
In an initiative by the Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra, as many as 1092 candidates got on the spot offer letters by different companies during the Deoria Job Mela.
MSME Ministry had organized a job mela in Mishra’s Parliamentary Constituency Deoria, UP, on Saturday and Sunday.
The Minister said in a tweet that more than 11000 candidates had applied to participate in the job mela.
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has invited the stakeholders including MSMEs to participate in the North East Business Summit, 2016 to be organized in Manipur from April 7-9, 2016.
The Business Summit is expected to explore the possibility of trade and Commerce with ASEAN countries under Act East Policy of the Government.
The Business Summit, 2016 is being organized in collaboration with the Government of Manipur.
Promising better returns, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today invited Australia's sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in India.
During a bilateral meeting with Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison here today, Jaitley sought investments in India by the Future Fund, Australia's sovereign wealth fund, as also by the Super Fund, the country's multi-industry superannuation fund.
Jaitley also called for higher investments by Australian businesses in India, saying they can get better returns on their investments.
The Israel government has shown keen interest in meeting the Indian businessmen during the China International Medicinal Equipment Fair (CMEF) to be held in Shanghai from April 17-20, 2016.
In this regard, the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute and Ministry of Economy and Industry have invited the Distributors, Manufacturers, Investors and Strategic Partners to meet the participating Israeli companies.
he Reserve Bank of India said on Tuesday it would allow its Sri Lankan counterpart to draw up to $700 million over a maximum period of three months under a new special currency swap agreement signed by the two central banks.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has previously provided currency swaps to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, including plans to extend a $1.5 billion agreement by one year.
Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of $1.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) to boost foreign exchange reserves and help avert a balance of payments crisis.
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Council and Mysuru Printers Cluster is leading a team of 25 members' delegation of Printers and Industrialists to Dusseldorf, Germany to participate in DRUPA Fair from June 1-14 in order.
DRUPA is an International Print, Packaging and Media Exhibition which is held once in four years. This year’s expo is scheduled to be held from May 31 to June 10, 2016.
To encourage and promote business development & Technology upgradation in the sector of printing industry, the Government of India and Government of Karnataka is extending subsidy up to 75 per cent of the air-fare in economy class to the DRUPA participants, Mysuru Industries Association said in a release.
Do you think Indian markets will hit new heights this financial year?
According to the FISME Factor, about 50 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that Indian markets will definitely hit new heights this financial year while 16 percent deny that and 33 percent can’t say anything about this.
Startup media is always in search of the next Steve Jobs, the next Elon Musk, the next Richard Branson and so on. Why just media, we ourselves aspire to be the next whoever. What if we let go of this desire and simply allow ourselves to become whoever we actually are?
When Satya Nadella became Microsoft's CEO, someone in my family sent a message to our group email reminding everyone that he went to the same school and college as I did. I knew where this line of thinking was going. Our minds crave to be associated with other people's success.
The basics of long-term investing when starting up
Long-term investment that is done over a period of about 15-20 years make a lot of sense, since the returns on such investment can be handsome. However, when you have a startup in mind or in the midst of one, before you start investing, there are some basic things to keep in mind.
When you are starting up, you are low on resources. Getting your first set of customers becomes very crucial. A lot of us, when we take the entrepreneurial plunge, have a fair idea of how the product will look and evolve - and this is something that lies in our hands. But reaching out to your customers is a complete unknown. You always ask yourself these questions -- Will customers try my product? How much do I need to spend on getting customers?
Getting your first 100 customers is always one of the toughest, but the most fun part of the entrepreneurial journey.
Corrugated box industry upset over collective closure by paper mills for price hike of raw material
The Corrugated Box Manufacturers, who are mostly the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are upset over the increase in price of kraft papers by the paper mills and have threatened to stop manufacturing in case the mills increase the price.
Talking to KNN, Kirti Modi, President, Indian Corrugated Case Manufacturers Association (ICCMA), said, “The paper mills have increased the price by Rs 3 per KG. The move will hit the supply by atleast 20 per cent.”
The Corrugated Box Manufacturers have been saying that the paper mills have increased the prices without even holding talks with them.
For Kunal Shah, cofounder of online mobile recharge platform Freecharge, trust and openness are the foundation stones of his leadership style. Shah, the man who struck one of the biggest deals in consumer Internet space in India when Snapdeal acquired his company for an estimated $400 million, believes that in a startup, empowerment is not a word but happens by default. "Trust to the point that scares you... and hire people smarter than you," said the 32-year-old, who did philosophy in college and then dropped out of his management course. "Leading in a startups is about extraordinary demonstration of trust," Shah said.
NestAway builds a business around trust and transparency in the rental market
When Shalini Varma moved from a small town for her dream job in Hyderabad, she had to initially check into an uncomfortable accomodation. Not knowing anyone in the city and with no friends to support, searching a house turned out to be arduous. "It's easier if you have a support system, especially friends who help you find decent accommodation," she says.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has released the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2004-05 for the month of September 2015
“ Running a start-up is like eating glass. You just start to like the taste of your own blood. ”
– – Sean Parker, Managing Partner at The Founders Fund
Co-founder of Plaxo, Napster, Airtime, and Causes, President of Facebook, Chairman of the Parker Foundation
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
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.
PP: 894, Hard Cover.
Price: Rs 900.
50% discount for members.
You are receiving this Newsletter because you are included in our mailing list of recipients who are involved or interested in FISME or Indian MSMEs. You are welcome to partly or fully reproduce and disseminate the contents of this publication provided that you acknowledge the source.
This Newsletter is edited by the FISME Secretariat. We welcome contributions as well as comments and suggestions. Please write to newsletter@fisme.org.in
" The SAARC region has a dubious distinction that in a globalized world it is one of the few regions having least intra-regional trade. Earlier the reason for low trade was political diffidence among nations. Now while the political will to integrate is reflected in South Asian Free Tarde Agreement (SAFTA), the structural and institutional hurdles remain in the form of NTBs and NTMs. While implementing a Juice Value Chain project (supported by GIZ) in the region we realized how much of a ‘win-win’ it would be if these hurdles are addressed. India is a large consumer of fruit juices and imports fruit concentrate/ nectar in large quantities. In SAARC, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka produce these fruit concentrates and export to other countries but not to India. All would be better off if trade across the borders. Key reasons for not doing so: standards, mutual recognition agreements between testing labs, lack of information. The project tried to build capacities of suppliers in these countries to comply Indian standards. There is an important lesson: it is critical to upgrade our standards and testing lab infrastructure so that our businesses can also export to new markets especially in product categories where standards are more important such as Food, Pharma, Electrical, Electronics and Telecom.
"
FISME organised SAARC Pavilion in Aahar International 2016, held in Pragati Maidan from 15 to 19 March, 2016. 10 Fruit Juice manufacturers of three important Fruit producing SAARC countries ,Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka showcased their products at the Pavilion. Besides having good business enquiry, the fair provided the participants a strong insight into the vast market for processed food items in India.
The pavilion is culmination of a long, enduring effort of FISME, to upscale trade of the agro- horticultural produce within the SAARC region.
The Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) organized a workshop on ‘Regional Trade Development in Juice and Juice Products in SAARC countries: Opportunities and Challenges’.
Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), was the chief guest at the event. While addressing the event, he said, “Specific customs related issues of Fruit Juice importers should be looked into. On a pilot scale FSSAI should recognise food testing laboratories of Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka to prevent re-testing of food imports from these countries.”
Dr Sangam Kurade, President, FISME, said that the food industry is growing at the rate of 15 per cent YoY currently which is fastest amongst all other sectors.
“It is an excellent thought process from FISME which has taken a lead in removing trade barriers in the fruit juice sector,” Dr Kurade said.
A business delegation from China visited the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) headquarters on 21st March 2016.
The visiting delegation came from Ruili city in the Yunnan Province of China. It is a major border crossing between China and Myanmar.
An interactive meeting was held between FISME and Chinese delegation to explore possible business opportunities between the two sides.
The delegation included entrepreneurs from FMCG and automobile.
Shand Chaoxian, General Manager, Ruili Darton Industry; Zhu Weihua, Director, Ruili Industrial and Commercial Bureau; Tiang Huaigang, Director, The Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Ruili City; and Yang Xianghong, Mayor, The Pople’s Government of Ruili City were a part of the visiting delegation.
Whereas from FISME, Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General; Debashis Bandhopadhyay, Director, Policy; Mukesh Kalra, Joint Secretary; V N Shastry, Joint Secretary attended the meeting.
FISME organized an interactive meeting of the MSMEs with the experts from World Bank to deliberate on how to facilitate Easy flow of credit to MSMEs through a robust credit information system and identifying gaps in present credit information systems.
The meeting was organized keeping in view the growing importance of credit information in today’s global business operations and about the functioning of the credit information bureaus, particularly, Credit Information Bureau of India Limited (CIBIL).
A good or bad CIBIL score often makes or breaks loan application, particularly personal loan applications.
“In India, credit information is not given much importance by the banks for business loans. However, in developed economies, it is an important tool for sourcing credit and also plays an important role in deciding the rate of interest,” FISME said in a press note.
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is the richest man in China and the 18th richest man in the world. Through his successes, he's learned the power of one valuable piece of advice:
You cannot unify everyone’s thoughts, but you can unify everyone through a common goal.
As per the provisions of Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2020), Government of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry has reconstituted the Board of Trade. Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) has been nominated to the Board to represent MSMEs.
The objective of the Board is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry and advise the Government on policy measures related to Foreign Trade. The first meeting of the reconstituted Board is to held on 6th April 2016 in New Delhi.
The Board is chaired by Union Commerce & Industry Minister and has over 20 Secretary level officers representing relevant Ministries and Departments. Besides FISME, industry bodies which are member of Board include CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and FIEO.
The government on Tuesday clarified that 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in online marketplaces, a move that will ostensibly come as a relief to ecommerce companies such as Flipkart, Amazon India and Snapdeal but the conditions imposed have been hailed as a victory by their brick-and-mortar rivals. Critically, a clause bars marketplaces from offering discounts on their own — these have to come from the vendors on the platforms — and the policy also seeks to end "predatory pricing" by online companies.
Indian corporates raised over $1.35 billion (around Rs 9,000 crore) from overseas markets in February, down 40.2 per cent over the same month a year ago, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed on Tuesday.
Domestic firms had raised $2.26 billion overseas in February last year.
The funds were raised using financial instruments such as external commercial borrowings (ECBs).
Of the total borrowings during the month, $1.02 billion was raised through the automatic route while $330 million came via the approval route. Only one firm, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, raised the entire $330 million through the approval route that was meant to be used for the refinance company's earlier ECB.
India’s retail inflation for March is expected to be around 5 per cent and the Reserve Bank is likely to cut its key rate by 25 basis points each at its policy reviews on April 5 as well as in August, says a report.
According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML), its inflation indicator is tracking March CPI inflation at 5 per cent, slightly lower than February’s 5.2 per cent.
“We continue to expect the RBI to cut rates 25 bps on April 5 and in August,” BofA-ML said in a research note.
In credit ratings, the number of upgrades is 6.8 times the number of downgrades for large firms with low leverage; for medium-sized firms the ratio is 3.9; and for small firms it is 6.3, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PM was addressing at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum, 2016.
He said that there has been a smart pick-up in credit growth after September 2015. Credit off-take between February 2015 and February 2016 increased by 11.5 per cent. The overall fund flow to the corporate sector through equity and borrowings of various kinds, domestic and foreign, has increased in the first three quarters of 2015-16 by over 30 per cent.
“There are some very interesting figures on credit ratings,” Modi said.
Worried about exports falling two years in a row, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a meeting with export bodies, including export promotion councils, next week to assess the situation and see if there is a need for further government intervention.
“The meeting with exporters has been tentatively scheduled for April 5. The Minister wants to meet representatives from all important sectors to get their assessment of the global situation and see if the government can do anything to improve the situation,” a Ministry official said.
After the launch of the much awaited Defence Procurement Policy 2016 on Monday, the Defence Experts have opined that the separate bidding process for MSMEs under 'Make' procedure will not only boost domestic industries but would also make foreign companies bring down their prices.
The ‘Make’ procedure of Acquisition in the DPP gives impetus for MSME sector.
Under the Make-I and Make-II categories, only the MSMEs with certain criteria would be eligible for bidding.
Talking to KNN, PC Tripathi, President, Defence and Strategic Industries Association of India, said, “The domestic companies will benefit from the DPP-2016. India currently imports most of the small items, of around Rs 2,000 crore, from the other countries. Now with the separate bidding for MSMEs, the items will be manufactured in India and the foreign companies too will bring down their process to become competitive.”
The first meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade (BoT) will be held on April 6 in the national capital. The objective of BOT is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry.
The Board of Trade would, inter-alia, advice the Government on policy measures related to Foreign Trade Policy in order to achieve the objective of boosting India’s trade.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had re-constituted the BOT recently.
Reconstituted BOT comprises of 19 members from industry & academia (Non-official Members); 31 heads of trade & industry associations (Ex-officio Members); 20 top officials including 13 secretaries to government of India, Deputy Governor, RBI, Chairman, Railway Board, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India, Chairman and MD, ECGC, Managing Director, EXIM Bank, Chairman and MD, SBI and Managing Director, Container Corporation of India (Official Members).
One more pet scheme of the Modi government — the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) — could notch up a record of sorts, going by the number of new entrepreneurs financed within a short span of 12 months.
In the last one year, about 1.5 crore new entrepreneurs have got support from banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to set up small businesses under the Yojana, which was launched last April to support small entrepreneurs.
Overall, 3.22 crore new as well as existing entrepreneurs have been sanctioned loans under PMMY. Women entrepreneurs account for about 78 per cent (or 2.52 crore) of the total number of borrowers. And this is no mean achievement.
Under PMMY, loans are given by banks and MFIs under three categories — Shishu (loans up to ₹50,000); Kishor (loans above ₹50,000 and up to ₹5 lakh); and Tarun (loans above ₹5 lakh and up to ₹10 lakh).
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday revised rules pertaining to revival of advances to small businesses and asked lenders to form district-level committees to resolve stressed loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
"In order to enable faster resolution of stress in an MSME account, every bank shall form Committees for Stressed MSME," RBI said in a notification.
The rules have been revised for "revival and rehabilitation of MSMEs having loan limits up to Rs 25 crore".
Odisha has topped with over 17 per cent share in the total live investments worth about Rs 33 lakh crore attracted by manufacturing sector across India, according to a recent study.
Gujarat has ranked second in terms of share in total outstanding investments attracted by manufacturing sector in India followed by Karnataka (11 per cent), Jharkhand (nine per cent) and Chhattisgarh (seven per cent)noted the study titled ‘Impact analysis of delay in investment implementation in manufacturing,’ conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
Agitated over protection given to the steel industry in the country, an industry body has said that the current state of the steel industry, having stressed assets, is mainly because of the loans given to them by the PSBs were diverted into some other activities rather than manufacturing steel.
The Apex Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI), Punjab, has written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley urging the government to substantially reduce the “content of protection given to few steel players”.
In an initiative by the Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra, as many as 1092 candidates got on the spot offer letters by different companies during the Deoria Job Mela.
MSME Ministry had organized a job mela in Mishra’s Parliamentary Constituency Deoria, UP, on Saturday and Sunday.
The Minister said in a tweet that more than 11000 candidates had applied to participate in the job mela.
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has invited the stakeholders including MSMEs to participate in the North East Business Summit, 2016 to be organized in Manipur from April 7-9, 2016.
The Business Summit is expected to explore the possibility of trade and Commerce with ASEAN countries under Act East Policy of the Government.
The Business Summit, 2016 is being organized in collaboration with the Government of Manipur.
Promising better returns, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today invited Australia's sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in India.
During a bilateral meeting with Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison here today, Jaitley sought investments in India by the Future Fund, Australia's sovereign wealth fund, as also by the Super Fund, the country's multi-industry superannuation fund.
Jaitley also called for higher investments by Australian businesses in India, saying they can get better returns on their investments.
The Israel government has shown keen interest in meeting the Indian businessmen during the China International Medicinal Equipment Fair (CMEF) to be held in Shanghai from April 17-20, 2016.
In this regard, the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute and Ministry of Economy and Industry have invited the Distributors, Manufacturers, Investors and Strategic Partners to meet the participating Israeli companies.
he Reserve Bank of India said on Tuesday it would allow its Sri Lankan counterpart to draw up to $700 million over a maximum period of three months under a new special currency swap agreement signed by the two central banks.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has previously provided currency swaps to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, including plans to extend a $1.5 billion agreement by one year.
Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of $1.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) to boost foreign exchange reserves and help avert a balance of payments crisis.
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Council and Mysuru Printers Cluster is leading a team of 25 members' delegation of Printers and Industrialists to Dusseldorf, Germany to participate in DRUPA Fair from June 1-14 in order.
DRUPA is an International Print, Packaging and Media Exhibition which is held once in four years. This year’s expo is scheduled to be held from May 31 to June 10, 2016.
To encourage and promote business development & Technology upgradation in the sector of printing industry, the Government of India and Government of Karnataka is extending subsidy up to 75 per cent of the air-fare in economy class to the DRUPA participants, Mysuru Industries Association said in a release.
According to the FISME Factor, about 50 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that Indian markets will definitely hit new heights this financial year while 16 percent deny that and 33 percent can’t say anything about this.
Startup media is always in search of the next Steve Jobs, the next Elon Musk, the next Richard Branson and so on. Why just media, we ourselves aspire to be the next whoever. What if we let go of this desire and simply allow ourselves to become whoever we actually are?
When Satya Nadella became Microsoft's CEO, someone in my family sent a message to our group email reminding everyone that he went to the same school and college as I did. I knew where this line of thinking was going. Our minds crave to be associated with other people's success.
Long-term investment that is done over a period of about 15-20 years make a lot of sense, since the returns on such investment can be handsome. However, when you have a startup in mind or in the midst of one, before you start investing, there are some basic things to keep in mind.
When you are starting up, you are low on resources. Getting your first set of customers becomes very crucial. A lot of us, when we take the entrepreneurial plunge, have a fair idea of how the product will look and evolve - and this is something that lies in our hands. But reaching out to your customers is a complete unknown. You always ask yourself these questions -- Will customers try my product? How much do I need to spend on getting customers?
Getting your first 100 customers is always one of the toughest, but the most fun part of the entrepreneurial journey.
The Corrugated Box Manufacturers, who are mostly the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are upset over the increase in price of kraft papers by the paper mills and have threatened to stop manufacturing in case the mills increase the price.
Talking to KNN, Kirti Modi, President, Indian Corrugated Case Manufacturers Association (ICCMA), said, “The paper mills have increased the price by Rs 3 per KG. The move will hit the supply by atleast 20 per cent.”
The Corrugated Box Manufacturers have been saying that the paper mills have increased the prices without even holding talks with them.
For Kunal Shah, cofounder of online mobile recharge platform Freecharge, trust and openness are the foundation stones of his leadership style. Shah, the man who struck one of the biggest deals in consumer Internet space in India when Snapdeal acquired his company for an estimated $400 million, believes that in a startup, empowerment is not a word but happens by default. "Trust to the point that scares you... and hire people smarter than you," said the 32-year-old, who did philosophy in college and then dropped out of his management course. "Leading in a startups is about extraordinary demonstration of trust," Shah said.
NestAway builds a business around trust and transparency in the rental market
When Shalini Varma moved from a small town for her dream job in Hyderabad, she had to initially check into an uncomfortable accomodation. Not knowing anyone in the city and with no friends to support, searching a house turned out to be arduous. "It's easier if you have a support system, especially friends who help you find decent accommodation," she says.
“ Running a start-up is like eating glass. You just start to like the taste of your own blood. ”
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.
