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President's Message
"
Congratulations and best wishes to Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India ! On behalf of associated SME bodies and member SMEs, I also welcome Hon’ble Minister for MSMEs Shri Kalraj Mishra. It is heartening that the new government has already set in for tasks ahead and preparing the agenda for 100 days. We hope that the NDA government is able to dispel the clouds of gloom and doom sooner. While doing so, we earnestly hope that the new government would take the stake holders in confidence so that priorities identified are relevant and solutions optimum. "
The SAARC Trade Promotion Network (TPN) held its first coordination meeting of Working Group on Human Capacity Development (HCD) in Kathmandu recently.
Attended by members from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the group discussed the blue print of the TPN vertical on HCD comprising of issues such as non-tariff measures, regional value chains with SMEM focus and gender.
The HCD relates primarily to improving the internal capacities of 28 TPN member organizations to increase inter-regional trade by providing improved services to their member national organizations and enterprises within the business community.
The Reserve Bank (Delhi region) with the support of FISME (Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises) held its second round of Town Hall meeting with the Naraina Industrial Association on 27th May 2014, Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by the General Manager, Rural Planning and Credit Department, RBI, Sonali Sengupta.
The meeting was convened to reach out to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) so as to create awareness of banking facilities and the advantages of linking them with banking system.
There is a saying that there are only three types of people in the world: those who watch what happened, those who wonder what happened and those who make things happen.
Entrepreneurs fall into the last category, of course. They are change agents, people who don’t see the world as it is but as it could be. Entrepreneurs don’t sit on the sidelines and wish for a better world. Rather they go out and create it. They don’t wait for things to be different. They are the difference.
Being forward thinkers, entrepreneurs continually push themselves to become better and do better. They are game changers. They ooze confidence and inspire greatness.
Today is a great day to become an entrepreneur because the price of admission into this elite club is free and yours for the taking.
There are two ways to describe the meaning of Narendra Modi’s massive victory. We can say it is a game-changer, profitably using the term “critical realignment”, a concept that basically depicts a radical shift in the social bases of political power, a shift that is not transitory but long term. A second way to explain the significance of Modi’s rise is to deploy a more colloquial term: capitalism with Indian characteristics.
Either way, a new era is upon us, though I am still not entirely sure about its durability.
To evaluate the significance of Modi’s triumph, we clearly need an appropriate benchmark. Just what should it be compared to?
The new government is likely to take a relook at the country's trading arrangements, including tariff structures under free trade pacts that may be undermining domestic manufacturing. "There is a need to spur manufacturing... A group is looking at the tariff structure in respect to the trading arrangements," a finance ministry official told ET.
According to the official, the underlying principle of trading arrangements should be to promote value addition and manufacturing in the country. While this requires tariffs to be lower on inputs and higher on processed and final goods, several of India's trade pacts are not aligned to this principle, the official said.
Corporate India came out with their expectations from the new government, on back of an overwhelming optimism on industrial growth. The expectations range from promoting innovation, clean energy and scale in manufacturing, while India Inc. expects a strong government at the Centre to pushing long pending policy decisions such as foreign direct investment and taxation.
Even as industry bodies welcome the landslide victory of the BJP, they have high expectations from the new government which they believe should focus on manufacturing and infrastructure to support exports, while providing a proactive and stable policy environment.
“The new Government will have to bring manufacturing back on track to sustain export and economy…it has to address infrastructure bottlenecks to impart competitiveness to exports,” said President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), M Rafeeque Ahmed.
The country's economic fundamentals may not allow Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan to lower interest rates any time soon, even as the people who voted Narendra Modi to power expect the new prime minister to take immediate action on growth and job creation. RBI said in its policy statements that it would not be in a position to lower rates unless inflation eases towards the 6% mark by January 2016.
Economists, too, backed the central bank in its war against inflation, while the Urjit Patel panel advocated inflation targeting as the key for monetary policy management.
With the view to easing earlier rules that only allowed loans of up to one year to the exporters, RBI said exporters with a "satisfactory" track record of three years can now get long-term loans from banks for up to 10 years to service export contracts.
The Reserve Bank has decided to allow Authorised Dealer (AD) category- I banks to allow exporters having a minimum of three years' satisfactory track record to receive long term export advance up to a maximum tenor of 10 years to be utilized for execution of long term supply contracts for export of goods subject to certain conditions, according to an RBI notification.
The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) will offer direct factoring facility for micro, small and medium enterprises in the current financial year to help meet working capital requirements of the MSMEs, ECGC Chairman cum Managing Director N Shankar, has said.
Factoring is a financial management service in which a business sells its accounts receivable at a discount to a third party funding agency to raise capital.
RBI could consider incentivizing those exporters who show a larger commitment to exports as against the stipulated 20 per cent by allowing a commensurate increase in the import cap assigned to them, an exporters body has said.
“The announcement of allowing STH /PTH also reflects that resolve of the new Government towards free market economics as against a canalized/restricted regime in order to propel business both within the country and outside. RBI’s announcement to allow long term export advances may help project and turnkey export sector,” President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), M Rafeeque Ahmed said today.
The government will be setting up an autonomous centre in the national capital to provide techno-economic advice to the Ministry of Mines on issues relating to the mines and the mineral sector.
The mining sector has been witnessing one of the worst times during the last year showing significant degrowth. While the index of industrial production for mining stood at 145.8 compared to 146.4 in the corresponding month of the previous year; the cumulative figures in the same sector for April-March 2013-14 were 124.5 compared to 125.5 during the previous year (2012-13), official data said.
Multi brand retail is not best opened up now because the small and medium sized traders and farmers have not been adequately empowered to deal with it, the new Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge) Nirmala Sitharaman said adding that if the floodgate of FDI is opened up, it might affect the SMEs.
“At this stage, the party’s position is very clear. It (multi-brand retail) probably is not best opened up now because the medium and small-sized traders and farmers have not been adequately empowered to deal with it. So immediately if you open up the floodgate of FDI, they may get affected,”
The small and medium industries which use iron ore as their raw material are likely to face scarcity, after the closure of 26 iron ore mines in Odisha by a Supreme Court order last week.
The order stated that the mines can resume production only when the state government renews leases. The move could adversely affect the steel industry including big units likeTata Steel and SAIL’s Rourkela and Durgapur plants, reports media.
At the beginning of 2014-15, domestic iron ore production for this financial year was estimated at 155 mt. In 2013-14 and 2012-13, production stood at 136 mt each.
At a time when there is so much brouhaha about the scarcity of land, the West Bengal Government has invited entrepreneurs to set up units in the state offering them land from two to 50 acres.
The project of land allocation is being handled by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). The state government has been developing sector specific and multi-product industrial parks in the state to provide a boost for rapid industrial growth.
Most of these industrial parks are located in Bankura (steel), Burdwan, Howrah (foundry, rubber, food, zari), Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipur and Purulia (steel).
To create an enabling environment for industrial development and to provide a fillip to private investment in these states, the Central Government has approved the extension of a special package of industrial incentives for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
According to an official notification, the scheme has been extended from January 7, 2013 to March 31, 2017.
The main objective of the scheme is to encourage private entrepreneurs to set up more industrial units in these states, leading to overall growth and industrialisation as also generation of more employment.
The Indian government and its industry will strengthen their economic relations with Africa through the private sector in areas of agriculture, food processing, core infrastructure, manufacturing and services.
“I believe that increased coordination and commitment of the Indian private sector, the Government of India and the economic potential of Africa will strengthen economic ties to yield rich all round dividends," said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Past President RV Kanoria yesterday in a meeting on 'Africa-India Partnership Day’ held at Kigali, Rwanda.
Singapore has overtaken Mauritius as the largest source of foreign direct investment into India, ending its long run over the top slot.
According to the latest data compiled by the department of industrial policy and promotion, FDI inflows from Singapore added up to nearly $6 billion (over Rs 35,500 crore) in 2013-14, compared with $2.3 billion in the previous year.
Washington today took its battle to get India to open its solar market a step further, demanding that the WTO create a panel to review the dispute.
The United States told the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement board that consultations with India had gone nowhere, insisting the global body step in.
Washington maintains New Delhi's requirement that only locally made products be used in its solar industry impedes competition.
The promise of faster decision-making and emphasis on infrastructure has Japanese investors excited, and they are ready to bank roll and provide expertise to develop India's physical infrastructure.
Japan's Ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi, along with representatives from that country's development agencies, met department of industrial policy and promotion secretary Amitabh Kant on Friday to discuss investment plans in India, particularly in various infrastructure corridors
The top priority for new government should be to improve Taxation (including GST)
According to the FISME Factor, 28 per cent of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that the top priority for new government should be to improve Taxation (including GST).
The backbone of any business is only and only one thing and that is: the People. In today's world HR managers are facing a number of impediments while discharging their duties in the best possible way. These managers are faced with diverse challenges which need to be addressed as soon as possible. Those that come to mind are retrenchments, cost cutting, high cost of hiring, training, etc. The world overcoming the heat of the financial crisis of 2011 and 2012 has signalled the arrival of many job opportunities for people. HR will have its hands full of employee related issues, right from managing people’s expectation till controlling cost.
For a common person, money simply means currency and coins. This is so because in India, the payment system, which includes credit cards and electronic cash, still revolves mainly around currency and coins, especially for retail transactions.
Marketers need to operate with limited resources, more so when changes in the external environment - such as economic slowdown - negatively affect revenue and profits. Here are five steps that can help organisations market brands on a tight budget.
Define the target market and positioning
The key element of a marketing strategy is how well you define your target audience. Newer approaches such as exploiting data analytics can help achieve finer customer segmentation than what was possible through traditional means.
Change labour/factory laws, set up public funded equity funds to assist SMEs: NMCC
The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) has asked the new government to do away with several labour and factory laws which are an obstacle to progress in manufacturing; and also set up public funded equity funds to help SMEs that suffer from credit crunch.
NMCC has recommended that the government “prune close to 44 Labour and Factory Laws that have been in existence in the Statute for so long to just three to enable industry, especially in its mid and small segment to escape uncalled for bureaucratic intervention in their day-to-day operations; so that their manufacturing progresses smoothly and is saved from little hindrances that often arise from inspector’s peeps,” according to Member Secretary, NMCC, Ajay Shankar.
Chandigarh small units wage battle for freehold land
Chandigarh's small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which have been stuck at the same scale for the past three decades, are now hoping to diversify and expand, as the Parliamentary Committee on the Union Territory of Chandigarh appointed by the Union ministry of home affairs has approved the conversion of leasehold industrial plots into freehold
How a Farmer’s son and College-dropout became a Tech Millionaire
“I just want to make a point that it’s not just great teachers who shape your life. Sometimes it’s the absence of great teachers that shapes your life, and being ignored can be just as good for a person as being lauded,” Julia Roberts. For Varun Chandran life has been the biggest teacher, and the need to survive has been the biggest motivation. He is today a millionaire who runs a tech firm out of Singapore and is spreading his wings across the globe. From being barely able to feed himself, to being able to create a global footprint is nearly impossible. But Varun has shown how it can be done.
" Entrepreneurs innovate. Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. It is the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth. "
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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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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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
"
Congratulations and best wishes to Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India ! On behalf of associated SME bodies and member SMEs, I also welcome Hon’ble Minister for MSMEs Shri Kalraj Mishra. It is heartening that the new government has already set in for tasks ahead and preparing the agenda for 100 days. We hope that the NDA government is able to dispel the clouds of gloom and doom sooner. While doing so, we earnestly hope that the new government would take the stake holders in confidence so that priorities identified are relevant and solutions optimum. "
The SAARC Trade Promotion Network (TPN) held its first coordination meeting of Working Group on Human Capacity Development (HCD) in Kathmandu recently.
Attended by members from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the group discussed the blue print of the TPN vertical on HCD comprising of issues such as non-tariff measures, regional value chains with SMEM focus and gender.
The HCD relates primarily to improving the internal capacities of 28 TPN member organizations to increase inter-regional trade by providing improved services to their member national organizations and enterprises within the business community. 
The Reserve Bank (Delhi region) with the support of FISME (Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises) held its second round of Town Hall meeting with the Naraina Industrial Association on 27th May 2014, Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by the General Manager, Rural Planning and Credit Department, RBI, Sonali Sengupta.
The meeting was convened to reach out to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) so as to create awareness of banking facilities and the advantages of linking them with banking system.
There is a saying that there are only three types of people in the world: those who watch what happened, those who wonder what happened and those who make things happen.
Entrepreneurs fall into the last category, of course. They are change agents, people who don’t see the world as it is but as it could be. Entrepreneurs don’t sit on the sidelines and wish for a better world. Rather they go out and create it. They don’t wait for things to be different. They are the difference.
Being forward thinkers, entrepreneurs continually push themselves to become better and do better. They are game changers. They ooze confidence and inspire greatness.
Today is a great day to become an entrepreneur because the price of admission into this elite club is free and yours for the taking.
There are two ways to describe the meaning of Narendra Modi’s massive victory. We can say it is a game-changer, profitably using the term “critical realignment”, a concept that basically depicts a radical shift in the social bases of political power, a shift that is not transitory but long term. A second way to explain the significance of Modi’s rise is to deploy a more colloquial term: capitalism with Indian characteristics.
Either way, a new era is upon us, though I am still not entirely sure about its durability.
To evaluate the significance of Modi’s triumph, we clearly need an appropriate benchmark. Just what should it be compared to?
The new government is likely to take a relook at the country's trading arrangements, including tariff structures under free trade pacts that may be undermining domestic manufacturing. "There is a need to spur manufacturing... A group is looking at the tariff structure in respect to the trading arrangements," a finance ministry official told ET.
According to the official, the underlying principle of trading arrangements should be to promote value addition and manufacturing in the country. While this requires tariffs to be lower on inputs and higher on processed and final goods, several of India's trade pacts are not aligned to this principle, the official said.
Even as industry bodies welcome the landslide victory of the BJP, they have high expectations from the new government which they believe should focus on manufacturing and infrastructure to support exports, while providing a proactive and stable policy environment.
“The new Government will have to bring manufacturing back on track to sustain export and economy…it has to address infrastructure bottlenecks to impart competitiveness to exports,” said President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), M Rafeeque Ahmed.
The country's economic fundamentals may not allow Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan to lower interest rates any time soon, even as the people who voted Narendra Modi to power expect the new prime minister to take immediate action on growth and job creation. RBI said in its policy statements that it would not be in a position to lower rates unless inflation eases towards the 6% mark by January 2016.
Economists, too, backed the central bank in its war against inflation, while the Urjit Patel panel advocated inflation targeting as the key for monetary policy management.
With the view to easing earlier rules that only allowed loans of up to one year to the exporters, RBI said exporters with a "satisfactory" track record of three years can now get long-term loans from banks for up to 10 years to service export contracts.
The Reserve Bank has decided to allow Authorised Dealer (AD) category- I banks to allow exporters having a minimum of three years' satisfactory track record to receive long term export advance up to a maximum tenor of 10 years to be utilized for execution of long term supply contracts for export of goods subject to certain conditions, according to an RBI notification.
The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) will offer direct factoring facility for micro, small and medium enterprises in the current financial year to help meet working capital requirements of the MSMEs, ECGC Chairman cum Managing Director N Shankar, has said.
Factoring is a financial management service in which a business sells its accounts receivable at a discount to a third party funding agency to raise capital.
RBI could consider incentivizing those exporters who show a larger commitment to exports as against the stipulated 20 per cent by allowing a commensurate increase in the import cap assigned to them, an exporters body has said.
“The announcement of allowing STH /PTH also reflects that resolve of the new Government towards free market economics as against a canalized/restricted regime in order to propel business both within the country and outside. RBI’s announcement to allow long term export advances may help project and turnkey export sector,” President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), M Rafeeque Ahmed said today.
The small and medium industries which use iron ore as their raw material are likely to face scarcity, after the closure of 26 iron ore mines in Odisha by a Supreme Court order last week.
The order stated that the mines can resume production only when the state government renews leases. The move could adversely affect the steel industry including big units likeTata Steel and SAIL’s Rourkela and Durgapur plants, reports media.
At the beginning of 2014-15, domestic iron ore production for this financial year was estimated at 155 mt. In 2013-14 and 2012-13, production stood at 136 mt each.
At a time when there is so much brouhaha about the scarcity of land, the West Bengal Government has invited entrepreneurs to set up units in the state offering them land from two to 50 acres.
The project of land allocation is being handled by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). The state government has been developing sector specific and multi-product industrial parks in the state to provide a boost for rapid industrial growth.
Most of these industrial parks are located in Bankura (steel), Burdwan, Howrah (foundry, rubber, food, zari), Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipur and Purulia (steel).
To create an enabling environment for industrial development and to provide a fillip to private investment in these states, the Central Government has approved the extension of a special package of industrial incentives for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
According to an official notification, the scheme has been extended from January 7, 2013 to March 31, 2017.
The main objective of the scheme is to encourage private entrepreneurs to set up more industrial units in these states, leading to overall growth and industrialisation as also generation of more employment.
The Indian government and its industry will strengthen their economic relations with Africa through the private sector in areas of agriculture, food processing, core infrastructure, manufacturing and services.
“I believe that increased coordination and commitment of the Indian private sector, the Government of India and the economic potential of Africa will strengthen economic ties to yield rich all round dividends," said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Past President RV Kanoria yesterday in a meeting on 'Africa-India Partnership Day’ held at Kigali, Rwanda.
Singapore has overtaken Mauritius as the largest source of foreign direct investment into India, ending its long run over the top slot.
According to the latest data compiled by the department of industrial policy and promotion, FDI inflows from Singapore added up to nearly $6 billion (over Rs 35,500 crore) in 2013-14, compared with $2.3 billion in the previous year.
Washington today took its battle to get India to open its solar market a step further, demanding that the WTO create a panel to review the dispute.
The United States told the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement board that consultations with India had gone nowhere, insisting the global body step in.
Washington maintains New Delhi's requirement that only locally made products be used in its solar industry impedes competition.
The promise of faster decision-making and emphasis on infrastructure has Japanese investors excited, and they are ready to bank roll and provide expertise to develop India's physical infrastructure.
Japan's Ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi, along with representatives from that country's development agencies, met department of industrial policy and promotion secretary Amitabh Kant on Friday to discuss investment plans in India, particularly in various infrastructure corridors
According to the FISME Factor, 28 per cent of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that the top priority for new government should be to improve Taxation (including GST).
For a common person, money simply means currency and coins. This is so because in India, the payment system, which includes credit cards and electronic cash, still revolves mainly around currency and coins, especially for retail transactions.
Marketers need to operate with limited resources, more so when changes in the external environment - such as economic slowdown - negatively affect revenue and profits. Here are five steps that can help organisations market brands on a tight budget.
Define the target market and positioning
The key element of a marketing strategy is how well you define your target audience. Newer approaches such as exploiting data analytics can help achieve finer customer segmentation than what was possible through traditional means.
The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) has asked the new government to do away with several labour and factory laws which are an obstacle to progress in manufacturing; and also set up public funded equity funds to help SMEs that suffer from credit crunch.
NMCC has recommended that the government “prune close to 44 Labour and Factory Laws that have been in existence in the Statute for so long to just three to enable industry, especially in its mid and small segment to escape uncalled for bureaucratic intervention in their day-to-day operations; so that their manufacturing progresses smoothly and is saved from little hindrances that often arise from inspector’s peeps,” according to Member Secretary, NMCC, Ajay Shankar.
Chandigarh's small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which have been stuck at the same scale for the past three decades, are now hoping to diversify and expand, as the Parliamentary Committee on the Union Territory of Chandigarh appointed by the Union ministry of home affairs has approved the conversion of leasehold industrial plots into freehold
“I just want to make a point that it’s not just great teachers who shape your life. Sometimes it’s the absence of great teachers that shapes your life, and being ignored can be just as good for a person as being lauded,” Julia Roberts. For Varun Chandran life has been the biggest teacher, and the need to survive has been the biggest motivation. He is today a millionaire who runs a tech firm out of Singapore and is spreading his wings across the globe. From being barely able to feed himself, to being able to create a global footprint is nearly impossible. But Varun has shown how it can be done.
" Entrepreneurs innovate. Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. It is the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth. " 
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.
