"
Dear colleagues and friends,
Time flies. Amidst hectic but thoroughly interesting engagements in FISME with you all, twenty four months have passed. The business environment has taken a U- turn! When I was taking over, Rupee was plunging, GDP growth and exports were falling and business sentiments were at the lowest ebb. Today Rupee is on a bouncing track and India is being touted as the fastest growing large economy in the world! Of course, beneath the simple narrative lies the fact that the industrial growth is still sluggish and pace of reforms much slower than expected. The government seems to be making the right moves as locked mega investments are being freed up and the legislative backlog is being cleared however slowly.
"
The Central Executive Committee of Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) has unanimously elected Dr. Sangam Kurade as President for the year 2015-16 during the executive meeting held recently in New Delhi.
A reputed food technologist and the promoter of a successful business unit based in Goa- Zuari Foods and Farms Pvt Ltd, Dr. Kurade has been an executive member of FISME and the Vice President of Goa Industries Association before assuming the post.
A Masters in food technology from the University of Hawaii, an MBA in Business Marketing at the Pacific Western University, he completed his PhD in Food Technology from the University of Tennessee.
FISME in association with Nepal Federation of Nepal Cottage & Small Industries has organised inception workshop for Fruit Juices on 19th March, 2015 at Kathmandu under the Project “Promotion of Regional Value Chains for SAARC Countries. The project is supported by German Technical Cooperation, GIZ under SAARC Trade Promotion Network. The project is being implemented by FISME as lead partner and being supported by Nepal Cottage & Small Industries, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.
FISME in association with The National Chamber of Commerce of Srilanka organised inception workshop for Fruit Juices on 11th March, 2015 in Colombo under the Project “Promotion of Regional Value Chains for SAARC Countries. The project is supported by German Technical Cooperation, GIZ under SAARC Trade Promotion Network.
The project is being implemented by FISME as lead partner and being supported by Nepal Cottage & Small Industries, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.
So much noise in the world. So much chatter.
Most of it sounds like the adults speaking on Charlie Brown: “mwa mwa-mwa mwa mwa”
But sometimes between all the mumbo-jumbo comes ear piercing wisdom. Yes — pure unfiltered advice in search of a landing pad in the brain of startup entrepreneurs.
And so my question when having an audience of rock star entrepreneurs is always this:
“If I were a 20 year old just starting my first business; and you could give me only one piece of advice or wisdom; what would it be?”
Having landed smack dab in the middle of a ton of smart, well heeled entrepreneurs at a recent live event in Scottsdale, Arizona — I asked my question.
Low and behold, 18 entrepreneurs fired off 20 bits of wickedly good advice for all of us.
Let the wisdom begin…
The government is set to unveil the long-awaited newForeign Trade Policy (FTP) for five years — from 2015 to 2020. The policy, poised to be “different” from previous such policies, will emphasise promotion of manufacturing andservices exports and strive for greater use of free trade agreements (FTAs).
The FTP, set to be unveiled on April 1, seeks to offer an incentive package for the exporting community. Typically, it is typically released for five years, with annual supplements revising the sops offered to exporters, depending on domestic and global factors.
In a first of its kind interaction with top officials from states and the Centre to expedite infrastructure projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday flagged four projects - the new airport in Mumbai, Bangalore Metro, a rail-cum road bridge over the Ganga river in Patna and a pipeline in West Bengal - that have been held up due to land acquisition issues, for speedier implementation.
In addition, he asked the railways to ready a blueprint for a second round of connectivity with the North-East, identifying a way to deal with the issue of the Chicken's Neck for easier flow of grains and goods to the seven sisters.
The first meeting of the Sub-Group on rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes was held under the convenership of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan at NITI Aayog today.
The Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Rajasthan, and LG of Andaman & Nicobar attended the meeting.
Member of NITI Aayog Shri Bibek Debroy and CEO, Smt.Sindhushree Khullar along with senior officials of the Aayog were also present at the meeting.
With proposed Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for investments in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the government is preparing to engage private firms to offer up to 51 per cent stake to the private sector. The balance equity will held by the government.
Seen as a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Act East Policy’, wherein east is the focus area and the relations with the countries in the region conferred top priority, this is expected to create industrial zones in these countries, where Indian companies, especially small and medium enterprises will set up manufacturing unit.
Infrastructure for chip manufacturing and designing will be considerably strengthened in India to cater to the growing domestic demand and to cut down the imports in the next few years.
Addressing the first Indian Electronics Expo organized by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) in New Delhi yesterday, Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, R S Sharma, revealed that the government would be investing US$ 10 billion in the chip manufacturing facilities coming up in Gujarat and UP, where a consortium of manufacturing firms have come up to set up the production bases.
To realize the potential of domestic capital goods under the ‘Make in India’ theme, the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) with Confederation Indian Industries (CII) has constituted a joint Task force.
The Taskforce aims to be an institutional framework for industry-government dialogue on issues related to Capital Goods and Engineering Sector. It is to also interact closely with Ministries such as of Petroleum and Natural gas, Power, Textiles and Road Transport and Highways and work towards ensuring that a level playing field could be given to domestic Capital Goods manufacturers.
To set up a network of technology centres, incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and also to promote start-ups for innovation and entrepreneurship in agro-industry, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Kalraj Mishra launched a scheme for promoting Innovation, Entrepreneurship and agro industry on wednesday in New Delhi.
The scheme is a step in the direction of the Finance Minister's budget speech for 2014-15, where establishing Technology Centre Network to promote Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Agro Industry with a fund of Rs.200 crore was envisaged.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed norms for conversion of the distressed loans of listed companies into equity by banks and financial institutions. Currently, banks can convert debt into equity in case of bad loans but there are regulatory issues with regard to distressed listed companies.
The market regulator’s move will allow lenders, particularly public sector banks, which are staring at a 10-year high in bad debts, to reduce the pressure on their balance sheets. Bad debts or non-performing assets of all public sector banks rose to 5.64 per cent of advances at the end of December 2014, which is the highest after the 5.73 per cent recorded in 2004-05.
Andhra Pradesh plans to introduce a comprehensive web-based paperless financial management system from July 1, a senior official announced here today.
The Krishna district has been identified to introduce the system on pilot basis, Andhra Prades government's Principal Finance Secretary P V Ramesh said.
Talking to reporters after discussing the project with district officials here on Wednesday, he said that all government financial transactions, would be cleared only through this system.
The Goa Government has pinned hopes on the defence sector to generate large-scale employment for local youth and aims to create 50,000 jobs in the next five years.
"The Defence Ministry has given order worth Rs 32,400 crore to Goa Shipyard Ltd. This will create employment opportunities for around 25,000 people. At least 10,000-15,000 of these will go to youths from Goa," Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said in his Budget presented today in the Assembly.
The government of Karnataka is developing an industrial estate at Bantwal taluk in Dakshina Kannada district.
This was announced by SG Hegde, Joint Director of District Industries Centre Mangaluru while inaugurating the National Vendor Development Cum Industrial Exhibition being organised in Mangaluru.
Mr. Hegde said since the government has categorised Bantwal as a backward taluk, entrepreneurs starting industries in the taluk would get five per cent additional subsidy for various activities and exhorted budding as well as existing entrepreneurs to start ventures in that taluk. The industrial estate is spread over an area of 250 acres, he added.
Mr K Jayakumar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cearsleg Technologies, a digital marketing company has launched an e-portal for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in Kerala.
Some of the features of this e-portal for MSMEs are:
It will provide online business lead generation support for people and entities affiliated to the product or service sector.
It will help them in personal branding, online reputation management along with digital marketing. These facilities will be available free of cost.
The US and India are planning to launch negotiations to sign a high quality bilateral investment treaty to create an enabling business environment in India, a senior American diplomat has said.
"With India now having concluded its own model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) framework, we are poised to be able to engage with the Indians and commence in negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal said.
India and energy-rich Qatar today signed six agreements including one on transfer of sentenced prisoners as the two countries sought to inject a fresh momentum in their bilateral ties.
The pacts were signed after Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani held extensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which both the leaders discussed a range of issues including enhancing cooperation in energy sector and boosting trade and investment.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Germany next month, a 'Make in India' fortnight has been held near here which included a series of events highlighting initiatives to make India a preferred investment destination.
The Indian Consulate in Frankfurt, in close cooperation with the city authorities of Cologne, about 190 kilometres from here, organised a grand road show on Friday which was the concluding event of the 'Make in India' fortnight series.
Pakistan is in the process of granting the Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India, said a WTO report.
The step would help in boosting bilateral trade between the countries.
"Pakistan is in the process of offering India NDMA. Under NDMA Pakistan is expected to reduce its sensitive lists to 100 tariff lines," the Trade Policy Review report of the WTO said.
India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate to that. Grant of status to India would help in further boosting trade between the countries.
Pakistan is postponing grant of NDMA status due to lack of consensus at home.
In 2012, Pakistan had committed itself to give the MFN status but missed its own deadline of December 31, 2012 owing to domestic opposition.
Does Modi‘s strategy to woo SAARC nations benefit the Indian economy?
According to the FISME Factor, 58 per cent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think Modi‘s strategy to woo SAARC nations will benefit the Indian economy whereas 42 per cent do not seem to think so.
As a small company grows the Human Resources aspect of the business becomes a vital aspect of development and success. Recruitment, training, development and compliance with the law should not be underestimated.
Five tips for SMEs to take away from ABN AMRO Commercial Finance’s Welsh Finance Roundtable Discussion
In a recent roundtable event hosted by ABN AMRO Commercial Finance, key representatives from various sectors of Welsh finance were invited to take part in an open discussion on the state of finance in Wales.
One of the most exciting times in the life of a young company or entrepreneur is when their product or services are ready to be unveiled to the world. With that excitement however, comes the realization of the task that still lies ahead: How do we get people to notice us?
When Lee Kwan Yew became Singapore's first prime minister in 1959, its per capita income was $400. Today, it is $55,000. No other country has gone so fast from rags to riches.
Every now and then we come across an SME who stands way above the pack in not just their sucess but also in their vision. But what about the enablers? Those who help them reach that target and become the success that they are.
He is from Madurai in south Tamil Nadu, a town known more for its temple than as a hub of entrepreneurship. Sivarajah Ramanathan, however, is determined to change that perception.
A first-generation entrepreneur himself, 45-year-old Sivarajah has started an organisation...
To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.
—Summer Sanders, American former competition swimmer,Olympic champion,sports commentator, reporter, television show host and actress.
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
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
"
Dear colleagues and friends,
Time flies. Amidst hectic but thoroughly interesting engagements in FISME with you all, twenty four months have passed. The business environment has taken a U- turn! When I was taking over, Rupee was plunging, GDP growth and exports were falling and business sentiments were at the lowest ebb. Today Rupee is on a bouncing track and India is being touted as the fastest growing large economy in the world! Of course, beneath the simple narrative lies the fact that the industrial growth is still sluggish and pace of reforms much slower than expected. The government seems to be making the right moves as locked mega investments are being freed up and the legislative backlog is being cleared however slowly.
"
The Central Executive Committee of Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) has unanimously elected Dr. Sangam Kurade as President for the year 2015-16 during the executive meeting held recently in New Delhi.
A reputed food technologist and the promoter of a successful business unit based in Goa- Zuari Foods and Farms Pvt Ltd, Dr. Kurade has been an executive member of FISME and the Vice President of Goa Industries Association before assuming the post.
A Masters in food technology from the University of Hawaii, an MBA in Business Marketing at the Pacific Western University, he completed his PhD in Food Technology from the University of Tennessee.
FISME in association with Nepal Federation of Nepal Cottage & Small Industries has organised inception workshop for Fruit Juices on 19th March, 2015 at Kathmandu under the Project “Promotion of Regional Value Chains for SAARC Countries. The project is supported by German Technical Cooperation, GIZ under SAARC Trade Promotion Network. The project is being implemented by FISME as lead partner and being supported by Nepal Cottage & Small Industries, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.
FISME in association with The National Chamber of Commerce of Srilanka organised inception workshop for Fruit Juices on 11th March, 2015 in Colombo under the Project “Promotion of Regional Value Chains for SAARC Countries. The project is supported by German Technical Cooperation, GIZ under SAARC Trade Promotion Network.
The project is being implemented by FISME as lead partner and being supported by Nepal Cottage & Small Industries, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.
So much noise in the world. So much chatter.
Most of it sounds like the adults speaking on Charlie Brown: “mwa mwa-mwa mwa mwa”
But sometimes between all the mumbo-jumbo comes ear piercing wisdom. Yes — pure unfiltered advice in search of a landing pad in the brain of startup entrepreneurs.
And so my question when having an audience of rock star entrepreneurs is always this:
“If I were a 20 year old just starting my first business; and you could give me only one piece of advice or wisdom; what would it be?”
Having landed smack dab in the middle of a ton of smart, well heeled entrepreneurs at a recent live event in Scottsdale, Arizona — I asked my question.
Low and behold, 18 entrepreneurs fired off 20 bits of wickedly good advice for all of us.
Let the wisdom begin…
The government is set to unveil the long-awaited newForeign Trade Policy (FTP) for five years — from 2015 to 2020. The policy, poised to be “different” from previous such policies, will emphasise promotion of manufacturing andservices exports and strive for greater use of free trade agreements (FTAs).
The FTP, set to be unveiled on April 1, seeks to offer an incentive package for the exporting community. Typically, it is typically released for five years, with annual supplements revising the sops offered to exporters, depending on domestic and global factors.
In a first of its kind interaction with top officials from states and the Centre to expedite infrastructure projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday flagged four projects - the new airport in Mumbai, Bangalore Metro, a rail-cum road bridge over the Ganga river in Patna and a pipeline in West Bengal - that have been held up due to land acquisition issues, for speedier implementation.
In addition, he asked the railways to ready a blueprint for a second round of connectivity with the North-East, identifying a way to deal with the issue of the Chicken's Neck for easier flow of grains and goods to the seven sisters.
The first meeting of the Sub-Group on rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes was held under the convenership of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan at NITI Aayog today.
The Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Rajasthan, and LG of Andaman & Nicobar attended the meeting.
Member of NITI Aayog Shri Bibek Debroy and CEO, Smt.Sindhushree Khullar along with senior officials of the Aayog were also present at the meeting.
With proposed Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for investments in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the government is preparing to engage private firms to offer up to 51 per cent stake to the private sector. The balance equity will held by the government.
Seen as a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Act East Policy’, wherein east is the focus area and the relations with the countries in the region conferred top priority, this is expected to create industrial zones in these countries, where Indian companies, especially small and medium enterprises will set up manufacturing unit.
Infrastructure for chip manufacturing and designing will be considerably strengthened in India to cater to the growing domestic demand and to cut down the imports in the next few years.
Addressing the first Indian Electronics Expo organized by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) in New Delhi yesterday, Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, R S Sharma, revealed that the government would be investing US$ 10 billion in the chip manufacturing facilities coming up in Gujarat and UP, where a consortium of manufacturing firms have come up to set up the production bases.
To realize the potential of domestic capital goods under the ‘Make in India’ theme, the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) with Confederation Indian Industries (CII) has constituted a joint Task force.
The Taskforce aims to be an institutional framework for industry-government dialogue on issues related to Capital Goods and Engineering Sector. It is to also interact closely with Ministries such as of Petroleum and Natural gas, Power, Textiles and Road Transport and Highways and work towards ensuring that a level playing field could be given to domestic Capital Goods manufacturers.
To set up a network of technology centres, incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and also to promote start-ups for innovation and entrepreneurship in agro-industry, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Kalraj Mishra launched a scheme for promoting Innovation, Entrepreneurship and agro industry on wednesday in New Delhi.
The scheme is a step in the direction of the Finance Minister's budget speech for 2014-15, where establishing Technology Centre Network to promote Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Agro Industry with a fund of Rs.200 crore was envisaged.
Andhra Pradesh plans to introduce a comprehensive web-based paperless financial management system from July 1, a senior official announced here today.
The Krishna district has been identified to introduce the system on pilot basis, Andhra Prades government's Principal Finance Secretary P V Ramesh said.
Talking to reporters after discussing the project with district officials here on Wednesday, he said that all government financial transactions, would be cleared only through this system.
The Goa Government has pinned hopes on the defence sector to generate large-scale employment for local youth and aims to create 50,000 jobs in the next five years.
"The Defence Ministry has given order worth Rs 32,400 crore to Goa Shipyard Ltd. This will create employment opportunities for around 25,000 people. At least 10,000-15,000 of these will go to youths from Goa," Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said in his Budget presented today in the Assembly.
.jpg)
The government of Karnataka is developing an industrial estate at Bantwal taluk in Dakshina Kannada district.
This was announced by SG Hegde, Joint Director of District Industries Centre Mangaluru while inaugurating the National Vendor Development Cum Industrial Exhibition being organised in Mangaluru.
Mr. Hegde said since the government has categorised Bantwal as a backward taluk, entrepreneurs starting industries in the taluk would get five per cent additional subsidy for various activities and exhorted budding as well as existing entrepreneurs to start ventures in that taluk. The industrial estate is spread over an area of 250 acres, he added.
Mr K Jayakumar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cearsleg Technologies, a digital marketing company has launched an e-portal for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in Kerala.
Some of the features of this e-portal for MSMEs are:
It will provide online business lead generation support for people and entities affiliated to the product or service sector.
It will help them in personal branding, online reputation management along with digital marketing. These facilities will be available free of cost.
The US and India are planning to launch negotiations to sign a high quality bilateral investment treaty to create an enabling business environment in India, a senior American diplomat has said.
"With India now having concluded its own model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) framework, we are poised to be able to engage with the Indians and commence in negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal said.
India and energy-rich Qatar today signed six agreements including one on transfer of sentenced prisoners as the two countries sought to inject a fresh momentum in their bilateral ties.
The pacts were signed after Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani held extensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which both the leaders discussed a range of issues including enhancing cooperation in energy sector and boosting trade and investment.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Germany next month, a 'Make in India' fortnight has been held near here which included a series of events highlighting initiatives to make India a preferred investment destination.
The Indian Consulate in Frankfurt, in close cooperation with the city authorities of Cologne, about 190 kilometres from here, organised a grand road show on Friday which was the concluding event of the 'Make in India' fortnight series.
Pakistan is in the process of granting the Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India, said a WTO report.
The step would help in boosting bilateral trade between the countries.
"Pakistan is in the process of offering India NDMA. Under NDMA Pakistan is expected to reduce its sensitive lists to 100 tariff lines," the Trade Policy Review report of the WTO said.
India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate to that. Grant of status to India would help in further boosting trade between the countries.
Pakistan is postponing grant of NDMA status due to lack of consensus at home.
In 2012, Pakistan had committed itself to give the MFN status but missed its own deadline of December 31, 2012 owing to domestic opposition.
According to the FISME Factor, 58 per cent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think Modi‘s strategy to woo SAARC nations will benefit the Indian economy whereas 42 per cent do not seem to think so.
As a small company grows the Human Resources aspect of the business becomes a vital aspect of development and success. Recruitment, training, development and compliance with the law should not be underestimated.
One of the most exciting times in the life of a young company or entrepreneur is when their product or services are ready to be unveiled to the world. With that excitement however, comes the realization of the task that still lies ahead: How do we get people to notice us?
When Lee Kwan Yew became Singapore's first prime minister in 1959, its per capita income was $400. Today, it is $55,000. No other country has gone so fast from rags to riches.
Every now and then we come across an SME who stands way above the pack in not just their sucess but also in their vision. But what about the enablers? Those who help them reach that target and become the success that they are.
He is from Madurai in south Tamil Nadu, a town known more for its temple than as a hub of entrepreneurship. Sivarajah Ramanathan, however, is determined to change that perception.
A first-generation entrepreneur himself, 45-year-old Sivarajah has started an organisation...
To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.
