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President's Message
"During last couple of weeks RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has raised some very pertinent issues with regards to macro-economic management. The gist of what he said is this that Government should be wary of excessive expenditure even in seemingly benign areas such as infrastructure. He is of the view that unbridled monetary expansion will stroke inflation which will be a bigger problem to handle and will make growth unsustainable. This is contrary to the clarion calls of India’s corporate sector that I heard while attending the pre-budget consultation last month all of whom demanded spending more for growth. RBI Governor’s view is that low inflation regime with moderate interest rates is far better than having high-inflation with lower interest rate regime. What does it mean for all of us: have moderate expectations on big investment plans in the budget and be ready for no-change in interest rates in the short term. What is particularly praiseworthy is his stand to induce greater competition in the banking sector. He opened the sector to new set of first small private banks, then payment banks and now universal banks with foreign capital also. Keeping in view that existing banks are saddled with NPAs, inviting new players with fresh capital and new pair of eyes augurs well for India and the MSMEs.
"
FISME organized ‘Profit Mantras for Business’ continuing the nationwide series of workshops for bringing practical wisdom to entrepreneurs on 27th January 2016 at The Lalit Ashok hotel, Bangalore. The seminar was attended by over 250 participants.
FISME organised this programme along with the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry with a focus on Finance, Marketing & Technology. Mr. Tallam R. Dwarakanath, President, FKCCI, welcomed the participants. The opening remarks were given by H.E. Mr Mohan Suresh, Past President, FISME & Hon. Consul of Rwanda in Bangalore. A presentation on Finance was given by Mr. Vishal Devanath, Founder & CEO, SMERGERS. Mr. Manish Sood, Country Category Manager, Hewlett-Packard India gave an insight on New Style of Information Technology through a presentation.
FISME, the leading federation of Indian MSME associations, has recently signed a MoU with the World Bank Group to create awareness among MSMEs about the functioning of credit information agencies.
Under the agreement, FISME will organise 5 training sessions cum workshops in 5 cities to train the MSMEs about the working of the credit rating bureaus, their advantages and how to retain a high credit score.
In India, at present there is only one major functional credit information bureau, CIBIL, which is accessed by all Banks for credit information of customers, particularly for appraising loan proposals.
Some owners can get mired in the details. They become so heavily immersed in managing all aspects of their company’s day-to-day operations that there isn’t time for anything else. Clearly, careful management is critical to business success, but taken to an extreme it sometimes impedes owners from realizing their long-term vision. For some, clarity and perspective come with a step back and a bit of introspection.
(Adapted from the Editorial Section, The Hindu Business Line)
Will the campaign go beyond a euphoric event and create true magic?
One event, one policy, two contrary reactions. One buoyant and optimistic, the other weary and cynical. One echoes the wave of euphoria that filled the halls of Vigyan Bhawan where over a thousand entrepreneurs turned up to cheer the government’s Start-up India, Stand-up India campaign. The other, a mature, questioning voice inured to the “unease” of doing business in India. “It is a well rounded policy. It covers not just the investors but the investees as well. There were true efforts to 'unblock',” says Nidhi Agarwal, Founder and CEO, KAARYAH, a woman’s non-casual fashion brand, backed by Ratan Tata and Mohandas Pai. among others.
India Inc raised over $3.03 billion from overseas markets in December 2015, a jump of more than 4-times from a year ago, RBI data showed today.
The domestic firms had raised $637.29 million from overseas markets during the same month in 2014.
Of the total borrowings during the month, $1.13 billion was raised through approval route, while $1.90 billion came through automatic route.
The Indian firms raised the capital both via external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) routes.
India is the only country among major steel producing nations, such as China, Japan, South Korea and the US, which witnessed growth in production in 2015.
According to the latest data by the World Steel Association (WSA), production in the world’s third largest steel producer rose by 2.6 per cent to 89.6 million tonnes (mt) in 2015 against 87.3 mt in 2014.
World steel production, however, dropped by 2.8 per cent to 1,622.8 million tonnes in 2015.
As per Steel Ministry, India is the only country among major steel producing countries which recorded a positive trend in steel production and consumption last year.
“India became the third largest producer of steel in the world in January 2015, leaving behind the US as the fourth largest producer,” the ministry said in a note.
The Centre will soon unveil a textile policy to boost sagging exports and encourage investments in the sector. Inaugurating the 62{+n}{+d} National Garment Fair in Mumbai on Wednesday, Kavita Gupta, Textile Commissioner, said the draft of the new textile policy is ready and the final version would be announced soon.
“We see the slowdown in China as an opportunity and are looking at $40 billion of textiles exports this fiscal. The Textile Ministry would give full support to the industry in time of distress,” Gupta said. Textiles and clothing exports were at $41.4 billion in 2014-15 and $39.31 billion in 2013-14.
On the progress of exclusive textile parks, she said the Centre had approved 72 textile parks but only 25-30 are operating fully while the rest are lying idle. The readymade garment industry generates largest employment after the agriculture sector and the Centre is extending its full support to this segment by extending 15 per cent capital subsidy against 10 per cent offered to other sectors of the textile industry, she said.
The long awaited Bankruptcy Code has reached the crucial stage of approval by the Parliament of India.
The Code prepared by the Vishwanathan Committee and approved by the Cabinet was placed before the Parliament and the House of People has decided to refer it to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
By a recent notification the JPC secretariat has asked comments of the stakeholders by 10th February, 2016.
The draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code must be considered as a watershed development for ‘Easing of Doing Business’.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill, proposed by the Vishwanathan Committee, fulfils a long standing demand from the Industry and business for an legal environment facilitating easy exit from a non-viable venture.
Government is planning to create coastal economic zones along the country's 7,500-km long coastline covering many states, ports and special economic zones having uniform policy to further boost manufacturing. "There is a thinking in the government that there should be a port-led development as was done in China where cities were granted special status of open coastal cities. These cities enjoyed special policies of the government," a senior official told PTI. Tough India has many ports, there is no cluster or a section of coastline that enjoys special status and incentives. However, there are special economic zones where investors can set up their manufacturing base and get incentives like tax exemption, speedy regulatory clearance, round the clock power and security.
After the successful launch of Start-up India last week, government is working on ZED model, an initiative to improve upon the quality levels of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant told KNN.
He said that the Quality Council of India is working on the ZED initiative - the Zero Defect, Zero Effect model mooted by PM Modi in his 2014 Independence Day speech.
The programme is likely to be launched in March this year and would be discussed during the Make in India week in February.
In a bid to settle crop insurance claims as quickly as possible, the government has decided to purchase unmanned aircraft technology 'Drone' for assessing crop damage faster and more accurately.
The move follows a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using modern farm technologies to implement effectively the new crop insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from June this year.
"We have already given an in-principle approval to Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) for purchase of a drone technology. An e-tender will be issued next month," a senior Agriculture Ministry official told PTI.
Manufacturing activity in the country dipped to a one-year low in January, suggesting moderation in growth, says a report by State Bank of India (SBI).
The yearly SBI Composite Index fell below the 50 mark to 47.3 in January -- its lowest level in the past one year, indicating "moderation in economic activity going forward".
According to SBI, construction, steel and textile "are some of the sectors that are clear headwinds and thus need to be addressed head-on".
To boost waning exports, the Commerce Ministry has suggested that exporters be exempted from payment of service tax in the upcoming Budget.
Exemption from the levy could help in reducing transaction cost and boost exports, an official said.
Currently, exporters pay service tax and then apply for its refund, which is a cumbersome process, according to exporters body FIEO.
"First paying the service tax and then applying for refund increases transaction cost and time. Many times, small exporters do not apply for refund as it takes a lot of documentation and time," Federation of Indian Exports Organisation DG Ajay Sahai said.
the recent spate of senior-level exits and layoffs at technology startups has proved a blessing for some firms.
The exits, triggered by shutdowns, acquisitions or cost cuts, have created a pool of topnotch talent for younger firms to pick from —people with more startup experience than the mostly twenty-something, first-generation entrepreneurs hiring them. Senior roles and promising stock options ensure loyalty and engagement.
"Once we got to know that a Mumbai-based company would be resizing their staff, we parked four of our tech architects and the HR (human resource) at Mumbai for two days for back-to-back interviews," said Manish Chopra, co-founder of deal discovery firm Little.
Maharashtra Government today approved an energy policy that seeks to provide sops for solar power generation and encourages public and private entities to tap this renewable source of electricity in a big way. State Cabinet cleared the solar off-grid policy which aims to save at least 500 MW in the next five years. Urban civic bodies and sanctioning authorities have been asked to change Development Control (DC) rules to ensure construction permission is given to only those buildings which give undertaking to set up solar water heater panels.
Haryana is expecting a spike in foreign investments from China after over 100 small and medium enterprises here agreed to invest over USD 1 billion in the state. The assurance was given to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is visiting the country alongwith a business delegation, to attract foreign investment in the state, according to a press release issued by the state government. The chief minister interacted with business leaders and Indian diaspora based here to encourage them to invest in the state and take advantage of the new business friendly administration.
The Government of India, the State of Rajasthan and the DISCOMs of Rajasthan (Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited and Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme UDAY – “Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana” today for operational and financial turnaround of the DISCOMs.
The MoU has been signed in the presence of the Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy here today.
Rajasthan is the third State to sign the MOU under UDAY, the other two States being Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Deficiency of ample amount of land has always been an issue for the industrialists in Gujarat. Emerging as one of the top-notch centre for innovation, the state calls for immense requirement of infrastructure and land. However, the requirements seem to suffer due to the unavailability of land at reasonable costs.
“Availability of land is one of the biggest challenges for the industrialists in Gujarat”, Hemant N. Shah, Secretary of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce Industry (GCCI) told KNN.
Visualising the issue, Dharti group & Apollo group joined hands to come up with a joint venture project named Dharti Apollo Ecp-Industrial Park which aims at building a next generation infrastructure facility to grow business while reducing costs.
In a move that would give a boost to tourism sector in the state which engages lots of micro and small enterprises in it, the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) is planning to launch houseboat services at different places in the Sunderbans and in the creeks from the Hooghly in East Midnapore district.
The move will boost back water tourism in West Bengal, based on the model of Kerala.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been giving stress to develop tourism infrastructure across the state. The State tourism department has been working to identify new places and boost the infrastructure at existing tourism spots.
India has slapped the first anti-subsidy duty of 13.44 per cent on Castings for Wind Energy Generators from China. The move has come as a relief for the small and medium Castings manufacturers in India.
The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), in a notification on January 19, said that the Castings for Wind Energy Generators have been exported to India from the Republic of China cat subsidized value, thus resulting in subsidization of the product.
DGAD said the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to subsidization of the subject goods; and the material injury has been caused by the subsidized imports of the subject goods originating in or exported from the subject country.
Business leaders of over 80 Chinese companies and enterprises today participated in a road show organised in the southwestern Sichuan province, highlighting the opportunity for entrepreneurs to invest in India under the government's 'Make in India' initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, Consul General of India in Guangzhou, Sailas Thangal said that 'Make in India' campaign offers great opportunities for Chinese business and entrepreneurs to invest in India and take advantage of India's large potentials for growth.
The first Joint Committee Meeting between India and Mauritius for the cooperation in MSME sector was held successfully on Wednesday.
A delegation from Mauritius came to meet Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.
During the meeting the possible areas of cooperation were identified. These areas are in line with the MoU signed between the two countries on 13th December 2015, said a release by MSME Ministry.
The issues discussed for cooperation were in the areas of capacity building through training of trainers, surveys on potential areas, managerial and technical skills, marketing, exhibitions & trade fairs exchange of business missions, setting up of business incubators, easy access to finance, clusters initiative etc.
"A business delegation visiting from Turkey has shown keen interest in partnering with Indian companies in the infrastructure sector viz. road, power, ports and other related sectors,” remarked Mr. Rizanur Meral, President, TUSKON (Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkiye) in an interactive meeting with the officials of the World Trade Centre (WTC) Mumbai. The meeting was organised jointly by the WTC Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI) at Committee Room, WTC Mumbai on January 23, 2016.
Will PM Modi’s Lahore visit help India improve relations with Pakistan?
According to the FISME Factor, about 67 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) agree that Make in India will help to generate employment while 20 percent of MSMEs deny this and 13.3 percent can’t say about this.
How finding right talent at the right time is a challenge for India’s largest technology startups
As Sachin Bansal moulds strategy that can keep Flipkart scaling peaks at pace, he's also grappling with a conundrum that's gotten more complex. "We are entering an interesting phase where Flipkart is not a small startup anymore," Flipkart's executive chairman said at a recent technology conference. "The question is, how do we set up an organisation in such a way that it builds up itself. How do we create an environment where the next-big-thing happens?"
Red Ribbon, Mehta Fincon to raise funds for startups
Red Ribbon Advisory Services, part of UK-based Red Ribbon Asset Management, has partnered with Mehta Fincon Services to raise funds for startups. "Mehta Fincon will help raise money for Red Ribbon's upcoming startup projects from south Gujarat," the company said in a statement. Red Ribbon promotes scalable projects that are incubated by investing its own capital in specifically chosen projects that meet their stringent selection criteria for incubation.
Promoting your software startup with a good website
It is no secret that I have a soft corner for startups. I have been there and done that, and can completely relate to the struggles and joys that building a company can bring. In the next couple of articles, I want to chronicle the steps you can take to promote your software startup -- relatively quickly and cost-efficiently.
First up, let us focus on getting your website right before we move on to the other weapons in the marketing arsenal.
Punjab MSMEs crying for roads, basic infra despite paying 5.5. lac per acre as dev charges
Despite being a big industrial hub, the infrastructure for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Punjab is yet to be improved, complained the local entrepreneurs.
The MSMEs in Ludhiana cried that even though the government is charging them high Change of Land Use (CLU) and External Development Charges (EDC) for building roads and infrastructure in the industrial areas, its ultimately them who have to get it done.
The idea of starting 'Zerodha' was to offer everything that I didn't get as a trader, says Co-Founder
Being one of the first in India to disrupt the existing pricing structure by introducing a flat fee-per-trade model, Zerodha, a Bangalore based brokerage firm is paving its way to lead the financial markets. In a very short span of time, Zerodha - a start-up - has attained the membership on all the stocks, commodity and currency exchanges in India. KNN was in conversation with Nithin Kamath, the founder and CEO of Zerodha, to get a deeper insight into the journey of the start-up so far.
Design innovation at the core of B’lore startup’s success
India's largest tea retail chain, Chai Point, was path-breaking in launching its Chai delivery service - Chai-on-Call. Chai-on-Call is arguably India's largest hot beverage delivery service. The core innovation in this delivery service was the heat-retaining disposable flask that retains heat for 45-60 minutes. Chai Point was the first company in India to develop and launch this unique heat retaining use & throw flask. The team at Chai Point saw the necessity to invent this flask based on customer demand for tea delivery at their offices and the scalability and hygiene that is missing in traditional thermos based chai deliveries. As Chai Point's service hubs spread across Bangalore, it found customers coming over with ceramic/glass flasks and taking back Chai in them. The contentious issue for Chai Point team was to ensure that the flask was clean so that Chai quality would never be doubted. This led to the development of this unique format.
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
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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"During last couple of weeks RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has raised some very pertinent issues with regards to macro-economic management. The gist of what he said is this that Government should be wary of excessive expenditure even in seemingly benign areas such as infrastructure. He is of the view that unbridled monetary expansion will stroke inflation which will be a bigger problem to handle and will make growth unsustainable. This is contrary to the clarion calls of India’s corporate sector that I heard while attending the pre-budget consultation last month all of whom demanded spending more for growth. RBI Governor’s view is that low inflation regime with moderate interest rates is far better than having high-inflation with lower interest rate regime. What does it mean for all of us: have moderate expectations on big investment plans in the budget and be ready for no-change in interest rates in the short term. What is particularly praiseworthy is his stand to induce greater competition in the banking sector. He opened the sector to new set of first small private banks, then payment banks and now universal banks with foreign capital also. Keeping in view that existing banks are saddled with NPAs, inviting new players with fresh capital and new pair of eyes augurs well for India and the MSMEs.
"
FISME organized ‘Profit Mantras for Business’ continuing the nationwide series of workshops for bringing practical wisdom to entrepreneurs on 27th January 2016 at The Lalit Ashok hotel, Bangalore. The seminar was attended by over 250 participants.
FISME organised this programme along with the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry with a focus on Finance, Marketing & Technology. Mr. Tallam R. Dwarakanath, President, FKCCI, welcomed the participants. The opening remarks were given by H.E. Mr Mohan Suresh, Past President, FISME & Hon. Consul of Rwanda in Bangalore. A presentation on Finance was given by Mr. Vishal Devanath, Founder & CEO, SMERGERS. Mr. Manish Sood, Country Category Manager, Hewlett-Packard India gave an insight on New Style of Information Technology through a presentation.
FISME, the leading federation of Indian MSME associations, has recently signed a MoU with the World Bank Group to create awareness among MSMEs about the functioning of credit information agencies.
Under the agreement, FISME will organise 5 training sessions cum workshops in 5 cities to train the MSMEs about the working of the credit rating bureaus, their advantages and how to retain a high credit score.
In India, at present there is only one major functional credit information bureau, CIBIL, which is accessed by all Banks for credit information of customers, particularly for appraising loan proposals.
India Inc raised over $3.03 billion from overseas markets in December 2015, a jump of more than 4-times from a year ago, RBI data showed today.
The domestic firms had raised $637.29 million from overseas markets during the same month in 2014.
Of the total borrowings during the month, $1.13 billion was raised through approval route, while $1.90 billion came through automatic route.
The Indian firms raised the capital both via external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) routes.
India is the only country among major steel producing nations, such as China, Japan, South Korea and the US, which witnessed growth in production in 2015.
According to the latest data by the World Steel Association (WSA), production in the world’s third largest steel producer rose by 2.6 per cent to 89.6 million tonnes (mt) in 2015 against 87.3 mt in 2014.
World steel production, however, dropped by 2.8 per cent to 1,622.8 million tonnes in 2015.
As per Steel Ministry, India is the only country among major steel producing countries which recorded a positive trend in steel production and consumption last year.
“India became the third largest producer of steel in the world in January 2015, leaving behind the US as the fourth largest producer,” the ministry said in a note.
The Centre will soon unveil a textile policy to boost sagging exports and encourage investments in the sector. Inaugurating the 62{+n}{+d} National Garment Fair in Mumbai on Wednesday, Kavita Gupta, Textile Commissioner, said the draft of the new textile policy is ready and the final version would be announced soon.
“We see the slowdown in China as an opportunity and are looking at $40 billion of textiles exports this fiscal. The Textile Ministry would give full support to the industry in time of distress,” Gupta said. Textiles and clothing exports were at $41.4 billion in 2014-15 and $39.31 billion in 2013-14.
On the progress of exclusive textile parks, she said the Centre had approved 72 textile parks but only 25-30 are operating fully while the rest are lying idle. The readymade garment industry generates largest employment after the agriculture sector and the Centre is extending its full support to this segment by extending 15 per cent capital subsidy against 10 per cent offered to other sectors of the textile industry, she said.
The long awaited Bankruptcy Code has reached the crucial stage of approval by the Parliament of India.
The Code prepared by the Vishwanathan Committee and approved by the Cabinet was placed before the Parliament and the House of People has decided to refer it to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
By a recent notification the JPC secretariat has asked comments of the stakeholders by 10th February, 2016.
The draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code must be considered as a watershed development for ‘Easing of Doing Business’.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill, proposed by the Vishwanathan Committee, fulfils a long standing demand from the Industry and business for an legal environment facilitating easy exit from a non-viable venture.
Government is planning to create coastal economic zones along the country's 7,500-km long coastline covering many states, ports and special economic zones having uniform policy to further boost manufacturing. "There is a thinking in the government that there should be a port-led development as was done in China where cities were granted special status of open coastal cities. These cities enjoyed special policies of the government," a senior official told PTI. Tough India has many ports, there is no cluster or a section of coastline that enjoys special status and incentives. However, there are special economic zones where investors can set up their manufacturing base and get incentives like tax exemption, speedy regulatory clearance, round the clock power and security.
After the successful launch of Start-up India last week, government is working on ZED model, an initiative to improve upon the quality levels of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant told KNN.
He said that the Quality Council of India is working on the ZED initiative - the Zero Defect, Zero Effect model mooted by PM Modi in his 2014 Independence Day speech.
The programme is likely to be launched in March this year and would be discussed during the Make in India week in February.
In a bid to settle crop insurance claims as quickly as possible, the government has decided to purchase unmanned aircraft technology 'Drone' for assessing crop damage faster and more accurately.
The move follows a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using modern farm technologies to implement effectively the new crop insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from June this year.
"We have already given an in-principle approval to Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) for purchase of a drone technology. An e-tender will be issued next month," a senior Agriculture Ministry official told PTI.
Manufacturing activity in the country dipped to a one-year low in January, suggesting moderation in growth, says a report by State Bank of India (SBI).
The yearly SBI Composite Index fell below the 50 mark to 47.3 in January -- its lowest level in the past one year, indicating "moderation in economic activity going forward".
According to SBI, construction, steel and textile "are some of the sectors that are clear headwinds and thus need to be addressed head-on".
To boost waning exports, the Commerce Ministry has suggested that exporters be exempted from payment of service tax in the upcoming Budget.
Exemption from the levy could help in reducing transaction cost and boost exports, an official said.
Currently, exporters pay service tax and then apply for its refund, which is a cumbersome process, according to exporters body FIEO.
"First paying the service tax and then applying for refund increases transaction cost and time. Many times, small exporters do not apply for refund as it takes a lot of documentation and time," Federation of Indian Exports Organisation DG Ajay Sahai said.
the recent spate of senior-level exits and layoffs at technology startups has proved a blessing for some firms.
The exits, triggered by shutdowns, acquisitions or cost cuts, have created a pool of topnotch talent for younger firms to pick from —people with more startup experience than the mostly twenty-something, first-generation entrepreneurs hiring them. Senior roles and promising stock options ensure loyalty and engagement.
"Once we got to know that a Mumbai-based company would be resizing their staff, we parked four of our tech architects and the HR (human resource) at Mumbai for two days for back-to-back interviews," said Manish Chopra, co-founder of deal discovery firm Little.
Maharashtra Government today approved an energy policy that seeks to provide sops for solar power generation and encourages public and private entities to tap this renewable source of electricity in a big way. State Cabinet cleared the solar off-grid policy which aims to save at least 500 MW in the next five years. Urban civic bodies and sanctioning authorities have been asked to change Development Control (DC) rules to ensure construction permission is given to only those buildings which give undertaking to set up solar water heater panels.
Haryana is expecting a spike in foreign investments from China after over 100 small and medium enterprises here agreed to invest over USD 1 billion in the state. The assurance was given to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is visiting the country alongwith a business delegation, to attract foreign investment in the state, according to a press release issued by the state government. The chief minister interacted with business leaders and Indian diaspora based here to encourage them to invest in the state and take advantage of the new business friendly administration.
The Government of India, the State of Rajasthan and the DISCOMs of Rajasthan (Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited and Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme UDAY – “Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana” today for operational and financial turnaround of the DISCOMs.
The MoU has been signed in the presence of the Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy here today.
Rajasthan is the third State to sign the MOU under UDAY, the other two States being Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Deficiency of ample amount of land has always been an issue for the industrialists in Gujarat. Emerging as one of the top-notch centre for innovation, the state calls for immense requirement of infrastructure and land. However, the requirements seem to suffer due to the unavailability of land at reasonable costs.
“Availability of land is one of the biggest challenges for the industrialists in Gujarat”, Hemant N. Shah, Secretary of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce Industry (GCCI) told KNN.
Visualising the issue, Dharti group & Apollo group joined hands to come up with a joint venture project named Dharti Apollo Ecp-Industrial Park which aims at building a next generation infrastructure facility to grow business while reducing costs.
In a move that would give a boost to tourism sector in the state which engages lots of micro and small enterprises in it, the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) is planning to launch houseboat services at different places in the Sunderbans and in the creeks from the Hooghly in East Midnapore district.
The move will boost back water tourism in West Bengal, based on the model of Kerala.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been giving stress to develop tourism infrastructure across the state. The State tourism department has been working to identify new places and boost the infrastructure at existing tourism spots.
India has slapped the first anti-subsidy duty of 13.44 per cent on Castings for Wind Energy Generators from China. The move has come as a relief for the small and medium Castings manufacturers in India.
The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), in a notification on January 19, said that the Castings for Wind Energy Generators have been exported to India from the Republic of China cat subsidized value, thus resulting in subsidization of the product.
DGAD said the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to subsidization of the subject goods; and the material injury has been caused by the subsidized imports of the subject goods originating in or exported from the subject country.
Business leaders of over 80 Chinese companies and enterprises today participated in a road show organised in the southwestern Sichuan province, highlighting the opportunity for entrepreneurs to invest in India under the government's 'Make in India' initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, Consul General of India in Guangzhou, Sailas Thangal said that 'Make in India' campaign offers great opportunities for Chinese business and entrepreneurs to invest in India and take advantage of India's large potentials for growth.
The first Joint Committee Meeting between India and Mauritius for the cooperation in MSME sector was held successfully on Wednesday.
A delegation from Mauritius came to meet Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.
During the meeting the possible areas of cooperation were identified. These areas are in line with the MoU signed between the two countries on 13th December 2015, said a release by MSME Ministry.
The issues discussed for cooperation were in the areas of capacity building through training of trainers, surveys on potential areas, managerial and technical skills, marketing, exhibitions & trade fairs exchange of business missions, setting up of business incubators, easy access to finance, clusters initiative etc.
"A business delegation visiting from Turkey has shown keen interest in partnering with Indian companies in the infrastructure sector viz. road, power, ports and other related sectors,” remarked Mr. Rizanur Meral, President, TUSKON (Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkiye) in an interactive meeting with the officials of the World Trade Centre (WTC) Mumbai. The meeting was organised jointly by the WTC Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI) at Committee Room, WTC Mumbai on January 23, 2016.
According to the FISME Factor, about 67 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) agree that Make in India will help to generate employment while 20 percent of MSMEs deny this and 13.3 percent can’t say about this.
As Sachin Bansal moulds strategy that can keep Flipkart scaling peaks at pace, he's also grappling with a conundrum that's gotten more complex. "We are entering an interesting phase where Flipkart is not a small startup anymore," Flipkart's executive chairman said at a recent technology conference. "The question is, how do we set up an organisation in such a way that it builds up itself. How do we create an environment where the next-big-thing happens?"
It is no secret that I have a soft corner for startups. I have been there and done that, and can completely relate to the struggles and joys that building a company can bring. In the next couple of articles, I want to chronicle the steps you can take to promote your software startup -- relatively quickly and cost-efficiently.
First up, let us focus on getting your website right before we move on to the other weapons in the marketing arsenal.
Despite being a big industrial hub, the infrastructure for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Punjab is yet to be improved, complained the local entrepreneurs.
The MSMEs in Ludhiana cried that even though the government is charging them high Change of Land Use (CLU) and External Development Charges (EDC) for building roads and infrastructure in the industrial areas, its ultimately them who have to get it done.
Being one of the first in India to disrupt the existing pricing structure by introducing a flat fee-per-trade model, Zerodha, a Bangalore based brokerage firm is paving its way to lead the financial markets. In a very short span of time, Zerodha - a start-up - has attained the membership on all the stocks, commodity and currency exchanges in India. KNN was in conversation with Nithin Kamath, the founder and CEO of Zerodha, to get a deeper insight into the journey of the start-up so far.
India's largest tea retail chain, Chai Point, was path-breaking in launching its Chai delivery service - Chai-on-Call. Chai-on-Call is arguably India's largest hot beverage delivery service. The core innovation in this delivery service was the heat-retaining disposable flask that retains heat for 45-60 minutes. Chai Point was the first company in India to develop and launch this unique heat retaining use & throw flask. The team at Chai Point saw the necessity to invent this flask based on customer demand for tea delivery at their offices and the scalability and hygiene that is missing in traditional thermos based chai deliveries. As Chai Point's service hubs spread across Bangalore, it found customers coming over with ceramic/glass flasks and taking back Chai in them. The contentious issue for Chai Point team was to ensure that the flask was clean so that Chai quality would never be doubted. This led to the development of this unique format.
“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”
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