"
When Prime Minister Modi made a clarion call for ‘Make in India’, most people thought of it as yet another customary announcement from ramparts of Red Fort on 15th Aug. But, the grand launch of the programme within 45 days of the announcement in Vigyan Bhawan- which I attended with my team, and the orientation of policy makers to the largely neglected part of Indian economy- manufacturing, raises the bar of expectations further. Much of what pulls Indian manufacturing is the result of our own making whether in regulations, taxation or infrastructure. It would be interesting to see how the reform agenda unfolds to make manufacturing attractive once again."
To provide a platform for dialogue and exchange of information between Indian and German ministries, SME clusters, industry associations and academia, the 2nd Indo-German SME Forum was organized jointly by GIZ from 22 to 23 September 2014 in New Delhi.
The Forum was inaugurated by Secretary MSME, Shri Madhav Lal. Besides him, senior officials from German Embassy, GIZ and Indo-German Chamber of Commerce were present during inauguration. The theme for the Forum this year was ‘Cluster Internationalisation’.
Secretary General FISME Shri Anil Bhardwaj made a presentation on ‘Strategy for Cluster Internationalization’. He said that this day except non- tradables, all goods were subject to discipline of imports and therefore the international dimension of business was impossible to overlook even of MSMEs produced for domestic market.
Secondly, he said that participating in exports gave an enterprise three distinct advantages namely: exporting acted as a reliable gauge of competitiveness; it provided insights about trends in designs, technology and consumer behaviour and most importantly, it offered a choice of the best suited market segment that an enterprise could serve.
FISME started yet another nationwide series of workshops ‘Profit Mantras for Businesses’- for bringing in practical wisdom to entrepreneurs. The first programme in the series was organized on 16th September 2014 in Kolkata in association with FOSMI (West Bengal).
Mr. Biswanath Bhattachary, President of FOSMI, welcomed delegates followed by the opening remarks by Joint Secretary (International Trade) of FISME, Mr. Mukesh Kalra.
The star speaker during the event was Mr. David Wittenberg, Chief Executive Officer, The Innovation Workgroup, on Profitability. While Mr. Deepak Jain, Vice President, DSP Blackrock shared best practices as how to effectively use idle cash, Mr. Kartik Taneja, Head Channel Sales – India, Google shared the secrets of smart Marketing through social media and Mr. Chiranjib Banerjee, Zonal Manager (East), Hewlett-Packard India apprised the entrepreneurs about new ways of leveraging Information Technology.
Taking forward the national campaign to connect MSMEs to e- marketing platforms, FLIPKART-FISME reached out to Ludhiana on 22nd September 2014. The sectors in focus were knitwear, handicrafts, jewellery, fashion accessories, home furnishings, garments, and leather products.
Participating MSMEs were explained how the buying patterns were shifting and e-retailing was expanding rapidly world wide. They were also briefed how they could leverage platform of Flipkart- India’s largest e-retailer. Flipkart offered full range of support from training and capacitating the suppliers to make their products and systems e-retail compatible.
The third annual Bangalore Literature Festival featured three packed days of panels by authors and artistes covering topics ranging from politics and religion to music and entrepreneurship. Here are my Top Ten takeways for startups from many of the authors at the Festival, especially the speakers in the panel ‘Building your Own Blocks: Entrepreneurship in India Today.’
Featured panelists included Ajit Balakrishnan, founder and CEO of Rediff.com and author of ‘The Wave Rider;’ Harish Bijoor, branding expert; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, managing director of Biocon; T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education; and Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of GoodWorkLabs and author of ‘Losing My Religion.’ (See also my earlier article from the Times Literary Carnival, ‘India needs more entrepreneurs: Nandan Nilekani’.)
While strong words make good speeches, the BJP-led Government has to go beyond rhetoric and focus on real issues such as a stable policy regime, flexible labour...
Narendra Modi knows his audiences. If on Saturday (when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly), Modi was serious and crisp in his address, Sunday was his day to play to the gallery. His speech to the Indian diaspora enthralled a packed Madison Square Garden in New York. The audience also included some US Senators and Congressmen in attendance.
Development, a movement: Modi began his speech by saying that India was evolving fast. He said that it is no more a nation of snake charmers but people who are running the world using a ‘mouse’. He played on his trusted ‘tea vendor’ card and assured the gathering that he was a leader for the common man.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hopeful that India has a chance to rise again as a global economic power. He also said that the GDP of India and China have risen and fallen in parallel.
In an interview to CNN, Modi said, "This is a country that once upon a time was called 'the golden bird'. We have fallen from where we were before. But now we have a chance to rise again".
Further, he said that India can match with China and he has a "clear roadmap" to channelise the entrepreneurial capabilities of her 1.25 billion people.
In the last five or ten centuries, India and China have grown at similar paces, said the Prime Minister.
As part of enhancing the efficiency in cheque clearing, RBI has done away with the requirement of returning paid government cheques in physical form back to the government departments concerned after the payment.
Reserve Bank introduced Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for clearance of cheques facilitating the presentation and payment of cheques without their physical movement.
“While this process has stabilized, the current requirement of forwarding the government cheques in physical form, after payment to the Government Departments, requires a change. The matter relating to dispensation of this requirement was taken up with the Government and we are pleased to inform that the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi has given approval to our proposal of doing away with the requirement of returning paid government cheques back to Government Departments concerned,” RBI said in a notification.
Revising India’s GDP upwards by 0.3 per cent to 6.3 per cent in 2015, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said the economy shows a new promise of turnaround after the election brought a stable government in May.
“India shows new promise of a turnaround. After winning a decisive parliamentary election victory, the new (Modi-led) government is better positioned than the old to pursue the reform necessary to unlock the economy’s growth potential.
“This Update maintains the 5.5 per cent growth forecast for 2014 but upgrades....to 6.3 per cent, the forecast for 2015, when reform can begin to bear fruit,” ADB said in its Outlook
to augment firming export demand from the major industrial economies, to boost economic growth, it 2014 Update released today.
With four days to go for the bi-monthly monetary policy review, Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan reiterated his tough stance on inflation, saying that its back needs to be broken for a sustainable growth, making it clear that there's little chance of an interest rate cut for the rest of the year.
"The real problem is inflation that is persistent. We have been emphasising over and over again about the importance to break the back of inflation...we got to break this persistence," Rajan said at the Statistics Day Conference at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai on Thursday
The RBI governor dwelt upon the nature of inflation in India, and the high food inflation could be linked to the minimum support price, or MSP. "What's been happening over the last few years is that food inflation has been a significant aspect of inflation, and many people argue that this is the central source of inflation. It's plausible to think that there may be a link between MSP and inflation, and many people believe that there's one," Rajan said.
The Make in India campaign, which was launched today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vigyan Bhawan in the presence of about 500 top CEOs, including the heads of India Inc has been hailed by the industry bodies.
Lauding the initiative, Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), Secretary General, Anil Bhardwaj said, “Modi has oriented the focus of the government towards manufacturing sector. He has reiterated that India’s salvation lies in improving manufacturing from 15 per cent to 25 per cent, so that it can create millions of jobs.
Further, he has tried to tell the investors that they should not see India merely as a market, but instead see it as a potential market rife with opportunities.”
The MSME Ministry is planning to extend loans to the MSME sector at the base rate to make finance available at lower interest rates and also open 500 district-level incubation centres across the country to train aspiring entrepreneurs, according to the Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.
He also reiterated that the definition of MSMEs will be revised and the new policy will be announced this month.
The MSME Ministry is in talks with public sector banks to extend loans to MSMEs at base rate to help the sector access vast capital from financial institutions at lower costs, Mishra today said.
Ahead of the Thursday launch of the " Make in India" campaign announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day, his office has written to the commerce ministry to forge a plan to reduce the country's dependence on unwarranted imports.
A commerce ministry source said that they have identified nine commodities where annual imports constitute more than $100 million each.
Edible oil, which leads the import basket with a 60 per cent share, is among the nine commodities, the others being pulses, fresh fruits, cashew, sugar, alcoholic beverages, processed and packaged items, cocoa products and sesame seeds.
The “Power for All” initiative has been launched with the signing of an MoU between the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Ministry of Power, Government on India, effective October-2.
The MoU was signed here today in the presence of Chief Minister of AP, N Chandrababu Naidu, and Union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Power and Coal, Piyush Goyal.
Other states other than AP that have launched the 24X7 power supply to all sectors, excluding agriculture are Delhi and Rajasthan.
The state government has also signed a MoU with NTPC for a 1000 MW solar park. Further, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) will hand over 1200 acres of land to NTPC for setting up a 4000 MW super critical ultra-mega thermal power project in Pudimadaka, Visakhapatnam district at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the India Food Park here in Karnataka, the project a combination of Central, State and Private Sector Partnership.
Future Group's food park is the first of its kind in India with the group investing about Rs 250 crore in the project. Till date, 50 units have been established for food processing.
Modi said the Union Government was committed to boosting the agricultural economy and empowering the farmers by facilitating value addition through creation of appropriate infrastructure, including rural connectivity, storage and warehousing.
He was addressing a large gathering at Tumkur after inaugurating the Food Park. Speaking about the project, the Prime Minister said it will fulfil the vision of "Annam Brahma" - Food is God.
He said his Government is committed to ensuring that as the farmer provides food for all, he should also get good income for his produce.
Several industrial units in West Bengal have experienced difficulties with the practice of government departments and public sector undertakings (PSU) mentioning brand names of products rather than the generic names on published tender documents.
MSME units that manufacture similar products, with same specifications, while conforming to the same standards, have experienced difficulty in participating in such tenders, said Secretary, Federation of Small and Medium Industries (FOSMI), H Ganguly.
In view of being approached by associations in this regard, FOSMI has asked its members to forward specifics which will enable them to collate data and approach appropriate authorities for a solution.
Representatives of several industry bodies, in a letter addressed to the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday, requested postponement of the proposed tariff hike by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) to the next financial year.
The letter stated that the proposed hike will result in an average billing-rate rise of Rs 2 per KWHr, which represents more than a 30 per cent rise in cost to industries. The demand charges are slated to increase from Rs 300 to Rs 350 per KVA which represents a 17 per cent increase.
In addition, the industries have to comply with other restrictions and control measures that have been imposed. The postponement of the rise in tariff to April 2015 will allow industries sufficient time to fine-tune their operations in light of the increase in tariffs.
India today invited Thai businesses to invest in the country and said it attaches top priority to the development of the North-East states as it opens a corridor into South-East Asia.
India's Ambassador to Thailand, Harsh Vardhan Shringla referred to various initiatives taken by the new Indian government to take the country's trade and development to a new plateau.
"Opening the North East creates a corridor for us into South East Asia," Shringla told a gathering of Thai commerce ministry officials, trade department representatives, ethnic Indian Thai businessmen and academia on the sidelines of a live telecast function showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching "Make in India" campaign.
After emerging as a resources destination for coal and iron ore, Australia is now looking to export pulses to India in a big way. The Australian state of Queensland has launched a special programme that focuses on cultivation of pulses, a food item India imports in large quantities to bridge the gap between domestic supply and demand.
"One of the target markets for trade and investment for Queensland is India...About, 18 months ago I put $5 million (AUD) in a programme to invest in resilience of tropical pulses, recognising that there is a strong growing market in India," Tim Nicholls, Queensland treasurer and minister for trade, told ET.
Since Sino-Indian war in the year 1962, the relation between two of the four largest Asian countries—which for more than 2,000 years co-existed peacefully—has become one of love and hate.
The recent India visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping has certainly tilted the relationship more towards cooperation and coexistence, especially from the perspective of trade and economic growth (despite the continuing tensions, trade between India and China has reached close to $70 billion), than belligerence and bigotry which the two sides think can only harm their interests in the region and global ambitions.
The relation between India and China dates back to ancient times. In modern times, the bilateral trade off between the two Asian giants started when in early 50s India became one of the first countries to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Republic of China. But the relation was badly soured by three military stand-offs in 1962, 1967 and 1987.
India is expected to soon set up a joint study group to explore a possibility of negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the Eurasian customs unions - Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan - to further boost trade and economic ties with the region.
"We are at an advance stage to instituionalise a joint study group" for a free trade agreement with the the Union, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said after inaugurating 'The India Show' here.
He said huge business opportunities exists in this region for Indian companies.
"We have critically evaluated our engagement with our trading partners and we have recognised that huge potential exists in regions including Latin America, Africa and CIS," he said adding "this region has been relatively left unattended by a large number of sectors".
With the fall of rate of inflation (Sept 2014) to lowest levels in five years, will RBI relent and cut interest rates in the coming quarter?
According to the FISME Factor, 57 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that despite the fall of rate of inflation (Sept 2014) to lowest levels in five years, RBI will neither relent nor cut interest rates in the coming quarter.
Search the web and you will find countless judgments and diatribes about the inefficacy of HR. For a while I was part of this group of people who denounced HR. But the more I engage with my colleagues and partners who have the difficult job of managing this function, the more I realise that the blame cannot be laid at their feet, nor can they be held solely responsible for the present state of HR.
I recently asked a gathering of financial leaders two questions: Is consumer finance facing profound disruption of the kind that has remade industries from retail stores to publishing? And if so, is our financial regulatory system prepared to address it? The group — representing industry, advocates, government, academia, and think tanks — answered yes on disruption, and a resounding no on regulatory readiness.
4 Principles of Marketing Strategy In The Digital Age
Life for marketers used to be simpler. We had just a few TV channels, some radio stations, a handful of top magazines and a newspaper or two in each market. Reaching consumers was easy, if you were able craft a compelling message, you could move product.
Ugh! Now we’ve got a whole slew of TV channels, millions of web sites and hundreds of thousands of “Apps” along with an alphabet soup of DMP’s, API’s and SDK’s. Marketing was never easy, but technology has made it a whole lot tougher.
94% MSMEs in West Bengal have no reach to financial assistance: Kalraj Mishra
The MSME units in West Bengal are not getting land, power, water, communication, Union Minister for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) Minister Kalraj Mishra has said adding that around 94 per cent of the units have no reach to the financial assistance.
"Bengal might be leading in the sector but the condition is alarming and future is uncertain as a large number of units are getting sick... This is because units are not getting land, power, water, communication," Mishra said while addressing an interactive session organised by the Merchant Chamber of Commerce here on Saturday.
Inside the Mind of An Ashoka Fellow: How Hasina Kharbhih Developed a Model to End Human Trafficking in Ind
Hasina Kharbhih has dedicated her life to ending human trafficking in India — and she’s doing it through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Involved in community work since she was still a secondary school student in Northeast India, Hasina is the founder of the Impulse NGO Network and Impulse Social Enterprises. Under her leadership, the Impulse team developed the internationally recognized Impulse Model (formerly known as the Meghalaya Model) to comprehensively address the root causes and persistent challenges of human trafficking. The Impulse Model is now being adapted and scaled in countries all over the world.
The story of a small town entrepreneur who has built a 2000 member outsourcing company
Vara Prasad Rongala’s family members have always been running their own businesses for the past 60 years. Hailing from the town of Nidadavole in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, he too joined the business of managing petrol pumps, cryogenic gases and rice mills back in 1981. As the young Vara Prasad grew to see the world and saw the opportunities in technology, he relocated to Bangalore along with his young family in 1996.
" Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own. "
- Henry Ward Beecher- American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker
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:
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"
When Prime Minister Modi made a clarion call for ‘Make in India’, most people thought of it as yet another customary announcement from ramparts of Red Fort on 15th Aug. But, the grand launch of the programme within 45 days of the announcement in Vigyan Bhawan- which I attended with my team, and the orientation of policy makers to the largely neglected part of Indian economy- manufacturing, raises the bar of expectations further. Much of what pulls Indian manufacturing is the result of our own making whether in regulations, taxation or infrastructure. It would be interesting to see how the reform agenda unfolds to make manufacturing attractive once again."
To provide a platform for dialogue and exchange of information between Indian and German ministries, SME clusters, industry associations and academia, the 2nd Indo-German SME Forum was organized jointly by GIZ from 22 to 23 September 2014 in New Delhi.
The Forum was inaugurated by Secretary MSME, Shri Madhav Lal. Besides him, senior officials from German Embassy, GIZ and Indo-German Chamber of Commerce were present during inauguration. The theme for the Forum this year was ‘Cluster Internationalisation’.
Secretary General FISME Shri Anil Bhardwaj made a presentation on ‘Strategy for Cluster Internationalization’. He said that this day except non- tradables, all goods were subject to discipline of imports and therefore the international dimension of business was impossible to overlook even of MSMEs produced for domestic market.
Secondly, he said that participating in exports gave an enterprise three distinct advantages namely: exporting acted as a reliable gauge of competitiveness; it provided insights about trends in designs, technology and consumer behaviour and most importantly, it offered a choice of the best suited market segment that an enterprise could serve.
FISME started yet another nationwide series of workshops ‘Profit Mantras for Businesses’- for bringing in practical wisdom to entrepreneurs. The first programme in the series was organized on 16th September 2014 in Kolkata in association with FOSMI (West Bengal).
Mr. Biswanath Bhattachary, President of FOSMI, welcomed delegates followed by the opening remarks by Joint Secretary (International Trade) of FISME, Mr. Mukesh Kalra.
The star speaker during the event was Mr. David Wittenberg, Chief Executive Officer, The Innovation Workgroup, on Profitability. While Mr. Deepak Jain, Vice President, DSP Blackrock shared best practices as how to effectively use idle cash, Mr. Kartik Taneja, Head Channel Sales – India, Google shared the secrets of smart Marketing through social media and Mr. Chiranjib Banerjee, Zonal Manager (East), Hewlett-Packard India apprised the entrepreneurs about new ways of leveraging Information Technology.
Taking forward the national campaign to connect MSMEs to e- marketing platforms, FLIPKART-FISME reached out to Ludhiana on 22nd September 2014. The sectors in focus were knitwear, handicrafts, jewellery, fashion accessories, home furnishings, garments, and leather products.
Participating MSMEs were explained how the buying patterns were shifting and e-retailing was expanding rapidly world wide. They were also briefed how they could leverage platform of Flipkart- India’s largest e-retailer. Flipkart offered full range of support from training and capacitating the suppliers to make their products and systems e-retail compatible.
The third annual Bangalore Literature Festival featured three packed days of panels by authors and artistes covering topics ranging from politics and religion to music and entrepreneurship. Here are my Top Ten takeways for startups from many of the authors at the Festival, especially the speakers in the panel ‘Building your Own Blocks: Entrepreneurship in India Today.’
Featured panelists included Ajit Balakrishnan, founder and CEO of Rediff.com and author of ‘The Wave Rider;’ Harish Bijoor, branding expert; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, managing director of Biocon; T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education; and Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of GoodWorkLabs and author of ‘Losing My Religion.’ (See also my earlier article from the Times Literary Carnival, ‘India needs more entrepreneurs: Nandan Nilekani’.)
Narendra Modi knows his audiences. If on Saturday (when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly), Modi was serious and crisp in his address, Sunday was his day to play to the gallery. His speech to the Indian diaspora enthralled a packed Madison Square Garden in New York. The audience also included some US Senators and Congressmen in attendance.
Development, a movement: Modi began his speech by saying that India was evolving fast. He said that it is no more a nation of snake charmers but people who are running the world using a ‘mouse’. He played on his trusted ‘tea vendor’ card and assured the gathering that he was a leader for the common man.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hopeful that India has a chance to rise again as a global economic power. He also said that the GDP of India and China have risen and fallen in parallel.
In an interview to CNN, Modi said, "This is a country that once upon a time was called 'the golden bird'. We have fallen from where we were before. But now we have a chance to rise again".
Further, he said that India can match with China and he has a "clear roadmap" to channelise the entrepreneurial capabilities of her 1.25 billion people.
In the last five or ten centuries, India and China have grown at similar paces, said the Prime Minister.
As part of enhancing the efficiency in cheque clearing, RBI has done away with the requirement of returning paid government cheques in physical form back to the government departments concerned after the payment.
Reserve Bank introduced Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for clearance of cheques facilitating the presentation and payment of cheques without their physical movement.
“While this process has stabilized, the current requirement of forwarding the government cheques in physical form, after payment to the Government Departments, requires a change. The matter relating to dispensation of this requirement was taken up with the Government and we are pleased to inform that the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi has given approval to our proposal of doing away with the requirement of returning paid government cheques back to Government Departments concerned,” RBI said in a notification.
With four days to go for the bi-monthly monetary policy review, Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan reiterated his tough stance on inflation, saying that its back needs to be broken for a sustainable growth, making it clear that there's little chance of an interest rate cut for the rest of the year.
"The real problem is inflation that is persistent. We have been emphasising over and over again about the importance to break the back of inflation...we got to break this persistence," Rajan said at the Statistics Day Conference at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai on Thursday
The RBI governor dwelt upon the nature of inflation in India, and the high food inflation could be linked to the minimum support price, or MSP. "What's been happening over the last few years is that food inflation has been a significant aspect of inflation, and many people argue that this is the central source of inflation. It's plausible to think that there may be a link between MSP and inflation, and many people believe that there's one," Rajan said.
The Make in India campaign, which was launched today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vigyan Bhawan in the presence of about 500 top CEOs, including the heads of India Inc has been hailed by the industry bodies.
Lauding the initiative, Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), Secretary General, Anil Bhardwaj said, “Modi has oriented the focus of the government towards manufacturing sector. He has reiterated that India’s salvation lies in improving manufacturing from 15 per cent to 25 per cent, so that it can create millions of jobs.
Further, he has tried to tell the investors that they should not see India merely as a market, but instead see it as a potential market rife with opportunities.”
The MSME Ministry is planning to extend loans to the MSME sector at the base rate to make finance available at lower interest rates and also open 500 district-level incubation centres across the country to train aspiring entrepreneurs, according to the Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.
He also reiterated that the definition of MSMEs will be revised and the new policy will be announced this month.
The MSME Ministry is in talks with public sector banks to extend loans to MSMEs at base rate to help the sector access vast capital from financial institutions at lower costs, Mishra today said.
Ahead of the Thursday launch of the " Make in India" campaign announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day, his office has written to the commerce ministry to forge a plan to reduce the country's dependence on unwarranted imports.
A commerce ministry source said that they have identified nine commodities where annual imports constitute more than $100 million each.
Edible oil, which leads the import basket with a 60 per cent share, is among the nine commodities, the others being pulses, fresh fruits, cashew, sugar, alcoholic beverages, processed and packaged items, cocoa products and sesame seeds.
The “Power for All” initiative has been launched with the signing of an MoU between the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Ministry of Power, Government on India, effective October-2.
The MoU was signed here today in the presence of Chief Minister of AP, N Chandrababu Naidu, and Union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Power and Coal, Piyush Goyal.
Other states other than AP that have launched the 24X7 power supply to all sectors, excluding agriculture are Delhi and Rajasthan.
The state government has also signed a MoU with NTPC for a 1000 MW solar park. Further, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) will hand over 1200 acres of land to NTPC for setting up a 4000 MW super critical ultra-mega thermal power project in Pudimadaka, Visakhapatnam district at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the India Food Park here in Karnataka, the project a combination of Central, State and Private Sector Partnership.
Future Group's food park is the first of its kind in India with the group investing about Rs 250 crore in the project. Till date, 50 units have been established for food processing.
Modi said the Union Government was committed to boosting the agricultural economy and empowering the farmers by facilitating value addition through creation of appropriate infrastructure, including rural connectivity, storage and warehousing.
He was addressing a large gathering at Tumkur after inaugurating the Food Park. Speaking about the project, the Prime Minister said it will fulfil the vision of "Annam Brahma" - Food is God.
He said his Government is committed to ensuring that as the farmer provides food for all, he should also get good income for his produce.
Several industrial units in West Bengal have experienced difficulties with the practice of government departments and public sector undertakings (PSU) mentioning brand names of products rather than the generic names on published tender documents.
MSME units that manufacture similar products, with same specifications, while conforming to the same standards, have experienced difficulty in participating in such tenders, said Secretary, Federation of Small and Medium Industries (FOSMI), H Ganguly.
In view of being approached by associations in this regard, FOSMI has asked its members to forward specifics which will enable them to collate data and approach appropriate authorities for a solution.
India today invited Thai businesses to invest in the country and said it attaches top priority to the development of the North-East states as it opens a corridor into South-East Asia.
India's Ambassador to Thailand, Harsh Vardhan Shringla referred to various initiatives taken by the new Indian government to take the country's trade and development to a new plateau.
"Opening the North East creates a corridor for us into South East Asia," Shringla told a gathering of Thai commerce ministry officials, trade department representatives, ethnic Indian Thai businessmen and academia on the sidelines of a live telecast function showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching "Make in India" campaign.
After emerging as a resources destination for coal and iron ore, Australia is now looking to export pulses to India in a big way. The Australian state of Queensland has launched a special programme that focuses on cultivation of pulses, a food item India imports in large quantities to bridge the gap between domestic supply and demand.
"One of the target markets for trade and investment for Queensland is India...About, 18 months ago I put $5 million (AUD) in a programme to invest in resilience of tropical pulses, recognising that there is a strong growing market in India," Tim Nicholls, Queensland treasurer and minister for trade, told ET.
Since Sino-Indian war in the year 1962, the relation between two of the four largest Asian countries—which for more than 2,000 years co-existed peacefully—has become one of love and hate.
The recent India visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping has certainly tilted the relationship more towards cooperation and coexistence, especially from the perspective of trade and economic growth (despite the continuing tensions, trade between India and China has reached close to $70 billion), than belligerence and bigotry which the two sides think can only harm their interests in the region and global ambitions.
The relation between India and China dates back to ancient times. In modern times, the bilateral trade off between the two Asian giants started when in early 50s India became one of the first countries to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Republic of China. But the relation was badly soured by three military stand-offs in 1962, 1967 and 1987.
India is expected to soon set up a joint study group to explore a possibility of negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the Eurasian customs unions - Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan - to further boost trade and economic ties with the region.
"We are at an advance stage to instituionalise a joint study group" for a free trade agreement with the the Union, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said after inaugurating 'The India Show' here.
He said huge business opportunities exists in this region for Indian companies.
"We have critically evaluated our engagement with our trading partners and we have recognised that huge potential exists in regions including Latin America, Africa and CIS," he said adding "this region has been relatively left unattended by a large number of sectors".
According to the FISME Factor, 57 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that despite the fall of rate of inflation (Sept 2014) to lowest levels in five years, RBI will neither relent nor cut interest rates in the coming quarter.
Search the web and you will find countless judgments and diatribes about the inefficacy of HR. For a while I was part of this group of people who denounced HR. But the more I engage with my colleagues and partners who have the difficult job of managing this function, the more I realise that the blame cannot be laid at their feet, nor can they be held solely responsible for the present state of HR.
I recently asked a gathering of financial leaders two questions: Is consumer finance facing profound disruption of the kind that has remade industries from retail stores to publishing? And if so, is our financial regulatory system prepared to address it? The group — representing industry, advocates, government, academia, and think tanks — answered yes on disruption, and a resounding no on regulatory readiness.
Life for marketers used to be simpler. We had just a few TV channels, some radio stations, a handful of top magazines and a newspaper or two in each market. Reaching consumers was easy, if you were able craft a compelling message, you could move product.
Ugh! Now we’ve got a whole slew of TV channels, millions of web sites and hundreds of thousands of “Apps” along with an alphabet soup of DMP’s, API’s and SDK’s. Marketing was never easy, but technology has made it a whole lot tougher.
The MSME units in West Bengal are not getting land, power, water, communication, Union Minister for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) Minister Kalraj Mishra has said adding that around 94 per cent of the units have no reach to the financial assistance.
"Bengal might be leading in the sector but the condition is alarming and future is uncertain as a large number of units are getting sick... This is because units are not getting land, power, water, communication," Mishra said while addressing an interactive session organised by the Merchant Chamber of Commerce here on Saturday.
Hasina Kharbhih has dedicated her life to ending human trafficking in India — and she’s doing it through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Involved in community work since she was still a secondary school student in Northeast India, Hasina is the founder of the Impulse NGO Network and Impulse Social Enterprises. Under her leadership, the Impulse team developed the internationally recognized Impulse Model (formerly known as the Meghalaya Model) to comprehensively address the root causes and persistent challenges of human trafficking. The Impulse Model is now being adapted and scaled in countries all over the world.
Vara Prasad Rongala’s family members have always been running their own businesses for the past 60 years. Hailing from the town of Nidadavole in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, he too joined the business of managing petrol pumps, cryogenic gases and rice mills back in 1981. As the young Vara Prasad grew to see the world and saw the opportunities in technology, he relocated to Bangalore along with his young family in 1996.
" Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own. " 
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