"
In a path breaking move, the Govt. has put forward amendments in the existing MSMED Act to provide for a structured mechanism for revival or exit for sick/ stressed MSMEs. FISME- which has been working on the issue and lobbying for its cause for over a decade derives satisfaction that finally the efforts have borne fruit. The amendment proposes an innovative solution to the long standing problem and recommends to leverage the Facilitation Council framework under the MSMED Act. It would help thousands of distressed MSMEs to get their sick enterprises back on track through revival mode or exit the unviable enterprise to create a new one without fear of recovery, imprisonment and social stigma. Eventually, an effective revival/ exit mechanism is all about freeing up the national resources- human, capital and land & building, and redeploying them for productive use. Ministry has also sought feedback on revising MMSE definition. Let’s study the proposals and help improve the draft put on the site of Ministry of MSME for wider consultations.
for urgent feedback on following amendments in the MSMED Act
- Revival and Exit mechanism for MSMEs
- Definition of MSMEs
Read proposals and provide your feedback here !
Taking forward the national campaign, FLIPKART-FISME reached out to the sports goods manufacturing community by organising yet another awareness programme on the importance of online selling. The programme was organised with the Association of Indian Sports Goods Industries (AISGI), on 8th November 2014 in Jalandhar.
Some of the distinguished guests from amongst the hundred owners of sports goods manufacturers who attended the programme were Mr. Subhash Sharma, President, AISGI, Mr. Chander Sawhney, Secretary, AISGI. Mr. Sumit Sharma from Philips, Mr. Jatin Kumar, Cricket Kit Manufacturer, Mr. Mandeep Kalra, Kalra and Sons and many more. FISME was represented by Mr. Mukesh Kalra., Joint Secretary-International Trade..
You have a great business idea, you got it validated from friends, family, advisors and now you are going to take the plunge into starting up. Maybe you have already started the journey and battling market forces on multiple fronts, pushing your products or services. If you’re looking at high growth, there are a few typical phases during which you’ll have to interact with the legal system in India.
Yes, you have to build a great team, create a kickass product, forge a service delivery system, do awesome marketing, conquer social media, raise investment, become a sales superhero – and your company will become hot property in the market. And then-BAM! - you’ll deal with a host of uncool things, this being India; some of them will make or break your business.
India is a very difficult country to do business in, and the number one reason for that is India’s complex, slow, and inefficient legal system. Out of 191 economies in the world, India ranks 134. It is easier to do business in countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh! Why is it so difficult do business in India?
"When Gandhiji came back to India in 1915, Gokhale asked him to “Make India proud of herself again”. As we approach 100 years of the articulation of that dream, it’s useful to inventory India’s three projects at Independence in 1947: nation building, social justice and poverty reduction...."
Engineering Export promotion Council (EEPC) India has inked an agreement with Deutsche Messe for 'Partner Country' status at Hannover Fair, scheduled between April 13 and 17 at Hannover in Germany.
This, according to an EEPC release, would give Indian hi-tech products and services instant visibility at this global event. The Ministry of Commerce has mandated EEPC India along with the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) for organising the high level participation.
The Executive Director and Secretary of EEPC India, Bhaskar Sarkar, and the Senior Vice-President of Deutsche Messe, Marc Siemering, have signed the agreement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend this event.
India, which has been participating in Hannover Messe for several years now, was a partner country in 2006.
According to the release, participation in 2006 generated total business worth $1.3 billion. Several major deals were finalised, including joint ventures between Mann Age and Force Motors, Deutsche Bann and Indian Railways, during the Hannover Fair in Germany in April 2006.
India has inked a USD 200 million loan agreement with the World Bank to finance the setting up of technology centres to help small enterprises enhance productivity.
"The Loan Agreement for World Bank (IBRD) financing of USD 200 million for Technology Centre System Programme (TCSP) was signed here today between Government of India and the World Bank," the finance ministry said in a statement.
The TCSP is for setting-up 15 new Technology Centres and to modernise existing 18 TCs at an estimated cost of Rs 2,200 crore (USD 400 million) including World Bank assistance of USD 200 million.
The government proposes to launch an innovation fund exclusively for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to encourage and promote new knowledge–driven ventures and programs. This would help in fostering entrepreneurship in rural areas, amongst women, and SC/STs.
The fund would also cover activities of the khadi, village and coir sectors, said Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Kalraj Mishra while inaugurating the two-day ‘Global R&D Summit 2014,’ here today.
Organized by FICCI in association with the Department of Science and Technology, the theme of the summit is ‘Next Gen Innovations through Interdisciplinary Research’.
Speaking at the event, Mishra said that the new Sfurti scheme launched by his ministry has helped in providing start-up funds for small and new ventures. This was in keeping with the government’s desire to promote innovation in industry and make India a global R&D hub in the coming years.
India's attempts to amend tax treaties with countries such as Mauritius may have drawn a blank so far, but its efforts are about to get a huge boost with several nations getting together to ramp up work on a global convention to plug treaty abuse. "Multilateral convention will supplement tax treaties. World is moving towards multilateralism... There would be communiques that would be binding," Akhilesh Ranjan, joint secretary, ministry of finance said at an event organised by industry body CII on Friday.
The convention will have provisions such as limitation of benefit that will prevent abuse of treaty. This will save countries the trouble of having to negotiate such provisions individually with each of their partners. Limitation of benefit clause is usually incorporated in treaties to ensure that only genuine investors avail benefits of a tax pact and include conditions such as a minimum level of investment, listing on the local stock exchange, ceiling on turnover and minimum expenditure, local residents on company board and number of board meetings for carrying out operations in one of the contracting states.
A sample survey of micro, small, and medium enterprises in the district will be conducted between November and January, District Collector Darez Ahamed said in a release. Enumerators appointed by General Manager, District Industries Centre, Thanjavur, will approach the enterprises for data collection. Data pertaining to production capacity, raw material, fuels used, products and services, employment and wages, exports, fixed assets and machinery value, total investment and loans will be collected. The enumeration will cover sick units. The information collected will be kept confidential and will be used for statistical purposes only. The Collector appealed to industrial units to cooperate with the enumerators by providing correct information.
There is an urgent need for more transparency in bringing about the proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST), a path breaking tax reform, said an industry, asking for an update on the latest status and decisions taken, and calling for the reports of the various panels be put on public domain so that the industry can submit its views.
“The first discussion paper on GST was published in November, 2009. The trade and industry so far has not been updated on the status of various aspects of proposed GST like threshold limits, rates, items under the Negative List, GST compliance, the IT infrastructure, the administrative structure etc. Government should come out with a paper on the latest status of the proposed GST incorporating the decisions which have been finalized between the Central Government and the States,” said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in a release.
“As a beginning, the reports of the Panels set up by the Empowered Committee on various aspects of GST should be placed in public domain and an opportunity be provided to the industry to submit its views,” it added.
To help banks deal with cheque related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank of India has outlined some preventive and precautionary measures.
“The rise in the number of cheque related fraud cases is a matter of serious concern. It is evident that many of such frauds could have been avoided had due diligence been observed at the time of handling and/or processing the cheques and monitoring newly opened accounts.
“Banks are, therefore, advised to review and strengthen the controls in the cheque presenting/passing and account monitoring processes and to ensure that all procedural guidelines including preventive measures are followed meticulously by the dealing staff/officials,” the apex bank said in a notification of November-5.
The Ministry of Finance has come out with some initiatives such as 24X7 customs clearances and single window scheme among others, in an effort to facilitate trade, cut trade transaction costs and encourage non-adversarial tax administration, as mentioned in the Budget Speech 2014 by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.
“It is the endeavour of the Indirect Tax administration to facilitate the trade and industry in discharging their tax dues, and simplify procedures for ease of doing business,” said an official release yesterday.
With regard to 24x7 customs clearances, “By 31.12.2014, 24x7 facility for specified export and import goods shall be available at 17 airports and 18 sea ports in certain categories of imports and exports, such as facilitated Bills of Entry where no examination and assessment is required; Factory stuffed export containers and export consignment covered by Free Shipping Bills; Export of all goods (in addition to factory stuffed export containers and export consignment covered by Free Shipping Bills),” it said. This facility was earlier introduced at Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.
World's leading information and communication technology (ICT) event CeBIT will debut in India at the country's flagship IT trade fair Bangalore ITE.biz 2014 on Wednesday.
"We are partnering with the Karnataka government and the state-run Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) to co-host Bangalore ITE.biz for the first time in the country," Hannover Fairs India Ltd. managing director Mehul Lanver-Shah told IANS in Bangalore on Tuesday.
Germany-based joint venture firm HMG (Hannover Milano Global) had earlier this year formed the Indian subsidiary to host every year its premier international IT/ICT trade event 'CeBIT' in the Indian sub-continent.
"We are here to give India's ICT sector a big thrust and serve as a common platform for global connectivity," Shah said ahead of the three-day joint trade fair at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on the city's outskirts.
Touted as Asia's largest IT/ICT expo, the event will feature diverse tech firms, including global brands, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups and showcase latest technologies and innovations.
The Indian textile industry and policy makers are too focused on incentive schemes for export promotion. This does not augur well for the industry particularly when World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligation will force India to phase out all its export incentives for the sector by end of 2015, says corporate economic advisor Ritesh Kumar Singh.
Competitive neighbours
He was speaking on the role of trade policy in pushing exports and safeguarding domestic markets threatened by the ever-growing low priced imports from countries such as Bangladesh and China.
Advising Texpreneurs (a forum formed by Tamil Nadu based textile entrepreneurs) against seeking such sops from the Government, Singh said: “A well-conceived trade pact can open up opportunities on the textile export front but a badly negotiated free trade pact can lead to unintended consequences.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that there is an urgent need for technological upgradation in handloom and powerloom sector to face the challenges of the competitive world.
He said that along with technological up-gradation, Human Resource Development (HRD) is another area in this sector which needs immediate attention, according to an official release.
Addressing a large gathering here which included a large number of weavers, craftsmen and artisans among others, the PM said that artisans, weavers and craftsmen need to be provided training in a scientific manner at their working place itself.
The Indian Society for Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering, in association with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, is organising a two-day national conference here on ‘Recent advances in composites design and manufacturing.
M Chandradathan, Director of the 'Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, will inaugurate the event on Friday, a spokesman for the organisers said here.
At least 200 delegates from various organisations, including ISRO and DRDO, and academic institutions like IITs will take part.
The aim is to shed light on areas of composite processing, product development and recent technologies of composite manufacturing.
A delegation from Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) met with the Managing Director, SICOP to finalize modalities for the implementation of cashless system of VAT for the purchase of raw materials through SICOP with effect from November-1.
To follow up on the matter of cashless system of VAT, a matter long pending, the BBIA delegation was led by President, BBIA, Annil Suri.
During the course of discussions the Managing Director, SICOP issued necessary instructions to the concerned officials to implement the cash less system of VAT for the purchase of raw materials through SICOP with immediate effect as per Government Order No 124-Ind of 2014 dated 29-05-2014 and SRO No- 151 dated 29-05-2014 by virtue of which the cashless system of VAT remission to industrial sector was supposed to be introduced with effect from 01/06/2014, according to an official release from BBIA.
The Minister for Communications and IT, Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad today laid the foundation stone for the new incubation facility at the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) here.
“The new facility would act as a resource centre for IT/ITeS exporting units by offering infrastructural facilities like ready to use state of art incubation facilities, High Speed Data Communication (HSDC) with uninterrupted data connectivity and other amenities as required for development and export of software and services,” said an official release.
The new facility would be operational within two years and stimulate to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for the IT educated masses of this region.
The presence of STPI-Patna has opened up new opportunities by offering the entire spectrum of services for IT/ITES industry in the state.
Insipient sickness among industries, particularly in and around Hyderabad, has been on the rise at 5 per cent each quarter of the year.
These industries have not been able to revive over the last three to four years due to the persistent power crisis combined with global trends. Moreover, no new industry in the sector has come up in the recent past, which is being looked upon as a red flag for the sector.
The industries had proposed relaxation of credit norms, setting up of a separate power discom for the sector, open access to power at higher costs to diesel subsidies from the government, but nothing has ben done.
Industry insiders say that the increase is alarming and needs immediate intervention from the government.
The MSME sector accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the industries that are tagged “insipient sick”.
The mounting problems since the last three years has already resulted in more than 70 per cent of the Small and Medium Industries becoming NPA (Non-Performing Assets) and even bigger industries are finding it tough to revive.
India and the US have resolved their disagreements on food security issues, paving the way for a global trade pact.
The prospect of a global trade deal had faded at a World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Indonesia last year, after India said it would not budge on some rules governing food subsidies.
The trade deal had been due to take effect in the middle of next year.
The breakthrough stems from a bilateral summit in September when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US.
Analysts have estimated the global trade deal could add $1tn (£630bn) to the world economy.
India and Russia, hoping to boost their trade and economic ties that remain below potential, despite decades-old strong political ties, today gave shape to joint "economic vision" package including possibility of joining a Customs Union in Eurasian region and increasing trade via Iran that will be unveiled when President Vladimir Putin visits India in December second week.
On his maiden visit to India for the annual summit since Modi became the Prime Minister, Putin is expected to announce an economic vision that would cover areas of energy and regional economic cooperation besides increased Russian investments in India among other issues, government sources said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin held brainstorming session to finalise the joint "economic vision" package, sources indicated.
Aiming to boost bilateral trade, India and Cote d'Ivoire are looking at increasing the line of credit through the Exim Bank here, Prime Minister of the West African nation Daniel Kablan Duncan said today.
He also invited Indian companies to invest in Cote d'Ivoire, popularly known as the Ivory Coast, saying that immense investment opportunities exist particularly in areas like agriculture, mining, oil & gas and infrastructure development.
"I met the vice president of Exim Bank (Export-Import Bank of India). We will increase the Line of Credit as far as the bilateral relation is concerned," Duncan told at a Ficci conference here.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will lead the American delegation to the India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) to be held in New Delhi later this month, an official announcement said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would be leading the Indian side at the meet scheduled for November 25, which is the premier bilateral forum for discussion and resolution of trade and investment issues between the two countries.
"This is an important opportunity to follow-through on Prime Minister Modi and President Obama's commitment to use the Trade Policy Forum to deepen our trade and investment relationship and help achieve the potential of our strategic partnership," Froman said yesterday.
With 'Make in India' campaign reverberating in Israel, India has asked the Jewish country to take advantage of the investment friendly policies of the new government and invest in strategic sectors like defence.
Home Minister Rajnath made a special reference to the 'Make in India' campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here last night.
Singh invited Israeli industries, including in the defence sector, to take advantage of the investment friendly policies adopted by the new government, an official statement issued after the hour-long meeting said.
As proposed by the Small Factories (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Bill, 2014, will making labour laws applicable from zero increase employment ?
According to the FISME Factor, only 33 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that the Small Factories (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Bill, 2014, making labour laws applicable from zero increase employment, whereas 67 percent disagree.
Employee dissatisfaction is on the rise, especially among entry-level and mid-level employees. A recent study from Dale Carnegie Training found that only 23% (that’s one in four!) of non-management workers reported being engaged at their current job. Meanwhile, almost 70% of non-engaged workers said they would leave their current job for as little as a 5% raise in pay.
Managing Finance is an important pre-requisite for the success of any business. An in-depth understanding of Financials not only keeps an entrepreneur/manager on the top of his/her game, but also helps him/her interpret financial accounts and reports more appropriately. It further helps him in budgeting and forecasting, managing and monitoring finances and to make the right financial decisions.
The Chartered Management Institute, the only chartered professional body in the UK dedicated to promote the highest standard of management and leadership excellence, in its Checklist Series on Managing Finance talks about the financial side of running a business. The books in the series focus on empowering the managers by helping them understand their financial management responsibilities in an organisation. In this article, we cover three action-oriented checklists for our entrepreneur/manager reader base – Managing Working Capital, Cash Flow for Small Businesses and Valuing a Business.
Shopping, once considered a major stress buster, is no longer an experience that most people who live in metros look forward to during weekends. Navigating through chaotic traffic, the constant quest for parking slots, overcrowded malls and high streets are reasons enough for the average citizen to resist venturing out to shop. Techie Akshay Mallappa has found the perfect solution – he shops for movie tickets, cars, hard disk drives, cooling glasses, slimming aids and even orders his favourite food online. “I wanted to buy a second hand Tata Nano and posted a request oncartradeindia.com and received a response within 24 hours from a guy who wanted to sell his two-month old Nano,” he says.
Usually, when we talk about the SME sector of the Indian economy, we observe that the sector is being deprived of the benefits that either the government or lending institutions are providing. SMEs keep on playing the blame game to attract the attention of the authority. This is what exactly SMEs are doing when it comes to get capital access from the banks and then forget to repay it all together to lending institutions, making the financial institutions face a crisis.
How GoCoop is supporting rural artisans by eliminating brokers and helping them sell online
While offline retailers benefit from Flipkart and Amazon by putting up their products online, rural craftsmen and artisans are left behind. A great deal of talent comes from the rural part of the country, which is often unappreciated and underpaid mainly due to lack of education and options. The involvement of brokers and middlemen contributes to the cause and worsening conditions of these workers. Siva Devireddy, founder of GoCoop, is working hard to bring justice for the craftsmen and rural cooperative societies by helping them sell their products online, thus eliminating the role of middlemen and brokers
German-certified Soul Tree eyes premium Ayurvedic cosmetic market
Six years ago, in the mountains of Uttarakhand, Vishal Bhandari started working with a small group of organic farmers. The primary outcome of this was a brand of organic beauty products.
In the larger space of premium Ayurvedic cosmetics, Soul Tree is pitched against brands like Kama and Forest Essentials. Soul Tree Organics biggest differentiator is that its claim of natural and organic is backed by a third party certification BDIH – Germany, an association for pharmaceuticals, health care products, food supplements and personal hygiene product.
“Being free from synthetic & harmful ingredients like SLS/SLES, parabens and artificial colours/fragrances, these herbs deliver their full benefit, and there are no side-effects. Consumers have our word, as well as the assurance of BDIH Germany’s seal on this,” says Bhandari.
They work very closely with women farmers and small not-for-profit organisations to promote organic farming, and generate sustainable livelihoods in the rural communities.
Buy our one-of-a-kind guide to all industrial testing laboratories in India. Find the one most convenient for getting your products tested and certified. An invaluable compendium for all industrial units and exporters.
PP: 894, Hard Cover.
Price: Rs 900.
50% discount for members.
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
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"
In a path breaking move, the Govt. has put forward amendments in the existing MSMED Act to provide for a structured mechanism for revival or exit for sick/ stressed MSMEs. FISME- which has been working on the issue and lobbying for its cause for over a decade derives satisfaction that finally the efforts have borne fruit. The amendment proposes an innovative solution to the long standing problem and recommends to leverage the Facilitation Council framework under the MSMED Act. It would help thousands of distressed MSMEs to get their sick enterprises back on track through revival mode or exit the unviable enterprise to create a new one without fear of recovery, imprisonment and social stigma. Eventually, an effective revival/ exit mechanism is all about freeing up the national resources- human, capital and land & building, and redeploying them for productive use. Ministry has also sought feedback on revising MMSE definition. Let’s study the proposals and help improve the draft put on the site of Ministry of MSME for wider consultations.
Taking forward the national campaign, FLIPKART-FISME reached out to the sports goods manufacturing community by organising yet another awareness programme on the importance of online selling. The programme was organised with the Association of Indian Sports Goods Industries (AISGI), on 8th November 2014 in Jalandhar.
Some of the distinguished guests from amongst the hundred owners of sports goods manufacturers who attended the programme were Mr. Subhash Sharma, President, AISGI, Mr. Chander Sawhney, Secretary, AISGI. Mr. Sumit Sharma from Philips, Mr. Jatin Kumar, Cricket Kit Manufacturer, Mr. Mandeep Kalra, Kalra and Sons and many more. FISME was represented by Mr. Mukesh Kalra., Joint Secretary-International Trade..
You have a great business idea, you got it validated from friends, family, advisors and now you are going to take the plunge into starting up. Maybe you have already started the journey and battling market forces on multiple fronts, pushing your products or services. If you’re looking at high growth, there are a few typical phases during which you’ll have to interact with the legal system in India.
Yes, you have to build a great team, create a kickass product, forge a service delivery system, do awesome marketing, conquer social media, raise investment, become a sales superhero – and your company will become hot property in the market. And then-BAM! - you’ll deal with a host of uncool things, this being India; some of them will make or break your business.
India is a very difficult country to do business in, and the number one reason for that is India’s complex, slow, and inefficient legal system. Out of 191 economies in the world, India ranks 134. It is easier to do business in countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh! Why is it so difficult do business in India?
India has inked a USD 200 million loan agreement with the World Bank to finance the setting up of technology centres to help small enterprises enhance productivity.
"The Loan Agreement for World Bank (IBRD) financing of USD 200 million for Technology Centre System Programme (TCSP) was signed here today between Government of India and the World Bank," the finance ministry said in a statement.
The TCSP is for setting-up 15 new Technology Centres and to modernise existing 18 TCs at an estimated cost of Rs 2,200 crore (USD 400 million) including World Bank assistance of USD 200 million.
The government proposes to launch an innovation fund exclusively for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to encourage and promote new knowledge–driven ventures and programs. This would help in fostering entrepreneurship in rural areas, amongst women, and SC/STs.
The fund would also cover activities of the khadi, village and coir sectors, said Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Kalraj Mishra while inaugurating the two-day ‘Global R&D Summit 2014,’ here today.
Organized by FICCI in association with the Department of Science and Technology, the theme of the summit is ‘Next Gen Innovations through Interdisciplinary Research’.
Speaking at the event, Mishra said that the new Sfurti scheme launched by his ministry has helped in providing start-up funds for small and new ventures. This was in keeping with the government’s desire to promote innovation in industry and make India a global R&D hub in the coming years.
India's attempts to amend tax treaties with countries such as Mauritius may have drawn a blank so far, but its efforts are about to get a huge boost with several nations getting together to ramp up work on a global convention to plug treaty abuse. "Multilateral convention will supplement tax treaties. World is moving towards multilateralism... There would be communiques that would be binding," Akhilesh Ranjan, joint secretary, ministry of finance said at an event organised by industry body CII on Friday.
The convention will have provisions such as limitation of benefit that will prevent abuse of treaty. This will save countries the trouble of having to negotiate such provisions individually with each of their partners. Limitation of benefit clause is usually incorporated in treaties to ensure that only genuine investors avail benefits of a tax pact and include conditions such as a minimum level of investment, listing on the local stock exchange, ceiling on turnover and minimum expenditure, local residents on company board and number of board meetings for carrying out operations in one of the contracting states.
There is an urgent need for more transparency in bringing about the proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST), a path breaking tax reform, said an industry, asking for an update on the latest status and decisions taken, and calling for the reports of the various panels be put on public domain so that the industry can submit its views.
“The first discussion paper on GST was published in November, 2009. The trade and industry so far has not been updated on the status of various aspects of proposed GST like threshold limits, rates, items under the Negative List, GST compliance, the IT infrastructure, the administrative structure etc. Government should come out with a paper on the latest status of the proposed GST incorporating the decisions which have been finalized between the Central Government and the States,” said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in a release.
“As a beginning, the reports of the Panels set up by the Empowered Committee on various aspects of GST should be placed in public domain and an opportunity be provided to the industry to submit its views,” it added.
To help banks deal with cheque related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank of India has outlined some preventive and precautionary measures.
“The rise in the number of cheque related fraud cases is a matter of serious concern. It is evident that many of such frauds could have been avoided had due diligence been observed at the time of handling and/or processing the cheques and monitoring newly opened accounts.
“Banks are, therefore, advised to review and strengthen the controls in the cheque presenting/passing and account monitoring processes and to ensure that all procedural guidelines including preventive measures are followed meticulously by the dealing staff/officials,” the apex bank said in a notification of November-5.
The Ministry of Finance has come out with some initiatives such as 24X7 customs clearances and single window scheme among others, in an effort to facilitate trade, cut trade transaction costs and encourage non-adversarial tax administration, as mentioned in the Budget Speech 2014 by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.
“It is the endeavour of the Indirect Tax administration to facilitate the trade and industry in discharging their tax dues, and simplify procedures for ease of doing business,” said an official release yesterday.
With regard to 24x7 customs clearances, “By 31.12.2014, 24x7 facility for specified export and import goods shall be available at 17 airports and 18 sea ports in certain categories of imports and exports, such as facilitated Bills of Entry where no examination and assessment is required; Factory stuffed export containers and export consignment covered by Free Shipping Bills; Export of all goods (in addition to factory stuffed export containers and export consignment covered by Free Shipping Bills),” it said. This facility was earlier introduced at Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.
The Indian textile industry and policy makers are too focused on incentive schemes for export promotion. This does not augur well for the industry particularly when World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligation will force India to phase out all its export incentives for the sector by end of 2015, says corporate economic advisor Ritesh Kumar Singh.
Competitive neighbours
He was speaking on the role of trade policy in pushing exports and safeguarding domestic markets threatened by the ever-growing low priced imports from countries such as Bangladesh and China.
Advising Texpreneurs (a forum formed by Tamil Nadu based textile entrepreneurs) against seeking such sops from the Government, Singh said: “A well-conceived trade pact can open up opportunities on the textile export front but a badly negotiated free trade pact can lead to unintended consequences.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that there is an urgent need for technological upgradation in handloom and powerloom sector to face the challenges of the competitive world.
He said that along with technological up-gradation, Human Resource Development (HRD) is another area in this sector which needs immediate attention, according to an official release.
Addressing a large gathering here which included a large number of weavers, craftsmen and artisans among others, the PM said that artisans, weavers and craftsmen need to be provided training in a scientific manner at their working place itself.
A delegation from Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) met with the Managing Director, SICOP to finalize modalities for the implementation of cashless system of VAT for the purchase of raw materials through SICOP with effect from November-1.
To follow up on the matter of cashless system of VAT, a matter long pending, the BBIA delegation was led by President, BBIA, Annil Suri.
During the course of discussions the Managing Director, SICOP issued necessary instructions to the concerned officials to implement the cash less system of VAT for the purchase of raw materials through SICOP with immediate effect as per Government Order No 124-Ind of 2014 dated 29-05-2014 and SRO No- 151 dated 29-05-2014 by virtue of which the cashless system of VAT remission to industrial sector was supposed to be introduced with effect from 01/06/2014, according to an official release from BBIA.
The Minister for Communications and IT, Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad today laid the foundation stone for the new incubation facility at the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) here.
“The new facility would act as a resource centre for IT/ITeS exporting units by offering infrastructural facilities like ready to use state of art incubation facilities, High Speed Data Communication (HSDC) with uninterrupted data connectivity and other amenities as required for development and export of software and services,” said an official release.
The new facility would be operational within two years and stimulate to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for the IT educated masses of this region.
The presence of STPI-Patna has opened up new opportunities by offering the entire spectrum of services for IT/ITES industry in the state.
Insipient sickness among industries, particularly in and around Hyderabad, has been on the rise at 5 per cent each quarter of the year.
These industries have not been able to revive over the last three to four years due to the persistent power crisis combined with global trends. Moreover, no new industry in the sector has come up in the recent past, which is being looked upon as a red flag for the sector.
The industries had proposed relaxation of credit norms, setting up of a separate power discom for the sector, open access to power at higher costs to diesel subsidies from the government, but nothing has ben done.
Industry insiders say that the increase is alarming and needs immediate intervention from the government.
The MSME sector accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the industries that are tagged “insipient sick”.
The mounting problems since the last three years has already resulted in more than 70 per cent of the Small and Medium Industries becoming NPA (Non-Performing Assets) and even bigger industries are finding it tough to revive.
India and the US have resolved their disagreements on food security issues, paving the way for a global trade pact.
The prospect of a global trade deal had faded at a World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Indonesia last year, after India said it would not budge on some rules governing food subsidies.
The trade deal had been due to take effect in the middle of next year.
The breakthrough stems from a bilateral summit in September when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US.
Analysts have estimated the global trade deal could add $1tn (£630bn) to the world economy.
India and Russia, hoping to boost their trade and economic ties that remain below potential, despite decades-old strong political ties, today gave shape to joint "economic vision" package including possibility of joining a Customs Union in Eurasian region and increasing trade via Iran that will be unveiled when President Vladimir Putin visits India in December second week.
On his maiden visit to India for the annual summit since Modi became the Prime Minister, Putin is expected to announce an economic vision that would cover areas of energy and regional economic cooperation besides increased Russian investments in India among other issues, government sources said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin held brainstorming session to finalise the joint "economic vision" package, sources indicated.
Aiming to boost bilateral trade, India and Cote d'Ivoire are looking at increasing the line of credit through the Exim Bank here, Prime Minister of the West African nation Daniel Kablan Duncan said today.
He also invited Indian companies to invest in Cote d'Ivoire, popularly known as the Ivory Coast, saying that immense investment opportunities exist particularly in areas like agriculture, mining, oil & gas and infrastructure development.
"I met the vice president of Exim Bank (Export-Import Bank of India). We will increase the Line of Credit as far as the bilateral relation is concerned," Duncan told at a Ficci conference here.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman will lead the American delegation to the India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) to be held in New Delhi later this month, an official announcement said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would be leading the Indian side at the meet scheduled for November 25, which is the premier bilateral forum for discussion and resolution of trade and investment issues between the two countries.
"This is an important opportunity to follow-through on Prime Minister Modi and President Obama's commitment to use the Trade Policy Forum to deepen our trade and investment relationship and help achieve the potential of our strategic partnership," Froman said yesterday.
With 'Make in India' campaign reverberating in Israel, India has asked the Jewish country to take advantage of the investment friendly policies of the new government and invest in strategic sectors like defence.
Home Minister Rajnath made a special reference to the 'Make in India' campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here last night.
Singh invited Israeli industries, including in the defence sector, to take advantage of the investment friendly policies adopted by the new government, an official statement issued after the hour-long meeting said.
According to the FISME Factor, only 33 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that the Small Factories (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Bill, 2014, making labour laws applicable from zero increase employment, whereas 67 percent disagree.
Employee dissatisfaction is on the rise, especially among entry-level and mid-level employees. A recent study from Dale Carnegie Training found that only 23% (that’s one in four!) of non-management workers reported being engaged at their current job. Meanwhile, almost 70% of non-engaged workers said they would leave their current job for as little as a 5% raise in pay.
Managing Finance is an important pre-requisite for the success of any business. An in-depth understanding of Financials not only keeps an entrepreneur/manager on the top of his/her game, but also helps him/her interpret financial accounts and reports more appropriately. It further helps him in budgeting and forecasting, managing and monitoring finances and to make the right financial decisions.
The Chartered Management Institute, the only chartered professional body in the UK dedicated to promote the highest standard of management and leadership excellence, in its Checklist Series on Managing Finance talks about the financial side of running a business. The books in the series focus on empowering the managers by helping them understand their financial management responsibilities in an organisation. In this article, we cover three action-oriented checklists for our entrepreneur/manager reader base – Managing Working Capital, Cash Flow for Small Businesses and Valuing a Business.
Usually, when we talk about the SME sector of the Indian economy, we observe that the sector is being deprived of the benefits that either the government or lending institutions are providing. SMEs keep on playing the blame game to attract the attention of the authority. This is what exactly SMEs are doing when it comes to get capital access from the banks and then forget to repay it all together to lending institutions, making the financial institutions face a crisis.
While offline retailers benefit from Flipkart and Amazon by putting up their products online, rural craftsmen and artisans are left behind. A great deal of talent comes from the rural part of the country, which is often unappreciated and underpaid mainly due to lack of education and options. The involvement of brokers and middlemen contributes to the cause and worsening conditions of these workers. Siva Devireddy, founder of GoCoop, is working hard to bring justice for the craftsmen and rural cooperative societies by helping them sell their products online, thus eliminating the role of middlemen and brokers
Six years ago, in the mountains of Uttarakhand, Vishal Bhandari started working with a small group of organic farmers. The primary outcome of this was a brand of organic beauty products.
In the larger space of premium Ayurvedic cosmetics, Soul Tree is pitched against brands like Kama and Forest Essentials. Soul Tree Organics biggest differentiator is that its claim of natural and organic is backed by a third party certification BDIH – Germany, an association for pharmaceuticals, health care products, food supplements and personal hygiene product.
“Being free from synthetic & harmful ingredients like SLS/SLES, parabens and artificial colours/fragrances, these herbs deliver their full benefit, and there are no side-effects. Consumers have our word, as well as the assurance of BDIH Germany’s seal on this,” says Bhandari.
They work very closely with women farmers and small not-for-profit organisations to promote organic farming, and generate sustainable livelihoods in the rural communities.
" Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. " 
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