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President's Message
" During last couple of years Indian Banks particularly the Public Sector Banks have over leveraged themselves in sectors such as real estate, telecom and mining. A report carried in DNA (18th June’15) says that ‘just the top 30 cases of defaults account for Rs 1.21 lakh crore, which is almost 40% of the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in banks’. With Reserve Bank of India cracking the whip on Banks to improve their balance sheets, Banks have started squeezing the most vulnerable borrowers: the MSMEs. The accompanying KNN story highlights the ugly truth that even the largest Public Sector Bank – State Bank of India, is charging hapless MSMEs interest rates as high 16.7 % ! There are reports that SBI is even forcing existing borrowers to either provide additional collaterals or reduce borrowing! Such policies are the result of plain short-sightedness and will surely backfire harming both the lender and the borrower. FISME will expose such practices through KNN, social media, as well as other State Industrial Bodies and also place these facts before the top policy makers. "
Hon’ble Minister for Small Scale / MSME, Government of Karnataka Shri Satish Jarkiholi visited FISME on 24th Aug 2015. He was facilitated by FISME office bearers Shri Mohan Suresh former FISME president and now Hon’ble Counsellor of Rwanda (Bangalore); Shri C.S. Goel, Vice President of FISME and Shri Pankaj Bansal, Treasurer.
Shri Jarkiholi held discussions on wide range of issue pertaining to FISME’s support in internationalizing Karnataka based MSMEs both through Trade and investment.
FISME along with ICEC has also offered to provide space in 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Expo 2015 being held at Dongguan, China from 29th to 31st Oct 2015.
A classic founder’s syndrome is to get involved in every functional role at the start-up. Almost every entrepreneur goes through this learning, spreading themselves too thin only to realise that it is not sustainable. Unless you lap up mega bucks from a venture capitalist (VC) in the first few months, you are more than likely to have a young inexperienced (read affordable) team, that will require a lot of grooming and handholding initially. You will find yourself splitting your time between countless activities completely choking your bandwidth.
C Rangarajan (former Governor, RBI) & M. Govinda Rao (member, XIV Finance Commission & Emeritus Professor, NIPFP) "A full-fledged GST will take time in the present political environment. But the Union government can begin by transforming its own indirect taxes into a GST at the manufacturing stage."
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said it will be "a long time" before India can replace China as a growth engine for the global economy, even if it grows at a faster rate.
The comments assume significance in the wake of a China-led slowdown hurting the markets worldwide in the recent days, which has led to calls in India for taking this crisis situation as an "opportunity" as the global economy may need alternative growth engines.
With the view to bring financial inclusion in the MSME sector, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched two funds by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), a fund of funds with total corpus of Rs 12,000 crore.
The funds are Rs 2,000-crore India Aspiration Fund (IAF) and SIDBI Make in India Loan for Enterprises (SMILE) scheme with an investment size of Rs 10,000 crore.
"India is witnessing a start-up revolution and to harness the potential of India's innovators and entrepreneurs a vibrant financial ecosystem is essential. The IAF is intended to play a vital role in this financial ecosystem," Jaitley said while launching the funds on Tuesday.
NITI Aayog has developed an energy scenario building tool-India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 which aims to explore a range of potential future energy scenarios for India, for diverse energy demand and supply sectors leading up to 2047.
“It explores India’s possible energy scenarios across energy supply sectors such as solar, wind, bio fuels, oil, gas, coal and nuclear and energy demand sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture, cooking and lighting appliances,” NITI Aayog has said in a release.
Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has urged the finance ministry to increase the import duty on both crude and refined edible oils to stem the flow of cheap imports and protect the interest of domestic farmers. Singh, in a letter to the finance ministry, suggested that the import duty on crude edible oil be increased to 10% from 7.5%, and to 20% from 15% in case of refined edible oil. The domestic refining industry has been lobbying hard for the increase in duty. "We have sent the proposal to increase import duty on refined and crude edible oil to the revenue department under the finance ministry, looking at farmers' interest," said an agriculture ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.
CRISIL has analysed 1,050 start-up micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that were rated on the basis of their 2013-14 (financial year April 1 to March 31) financials. For arriving at start-ups, CRISIL has considered MSMEs that started business operations after 2010. The MSMEs featured in the sample are primarily non-e-commerce enterprises that are in the manufacturing and services space.
The analysis reveals that seven sectors - engineering; construction; agri products; textile; printing & packaging; transport & logistics; and outsourcing & support services - account for 68 per cent of these, and 41 per cent are operational in the engineering, construction, and agri products sectors. Several of these sectors form part of the government's 25 sectors under the 'Make in India' programme.
The NPAs of the Corporate sector have a huge impact on the running cost of the small sectors as the large Indian banks, who are under the pressure of increasing non-performing assets, are charging the interest rate of as high as 16.7 per cent from the helpless SMEs.
Small entrepreneurs in the country still continue to groan under the harsh rate of interests offered by the banks to them even as the sector wields enormous power in economy’s empowerment.
Recently, an expert on MSME finance shared his experience at the Butibori Industrial Area in Nagpur where he came across cases of MSME units being charged interest at exorbitant rate of 16.70 per cent per annum with monthly rests on internal rating slipping to SB 14.
To ensure time-bound regulatory clearances for the MSME(micro small and medium enterprises) sector in Odisha, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has pitched for inclusion of the single window mechanism under the ambit of Public Service Guarantee Act of the state government.
"Single Window System for regulatory clearances for MSME is already in place which needs to be activated. It may be covered under Public Service Guarantee Act of the state government which may help time-bound clearances for the start-up of the projects", the RBI, Bhubaneswar office suggested in report on "The State of MSME sector in Odisha: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward".
The government is soon expected to allow foreign and domestic companies with manufacturing units in India to sell their products through online portals directly to consumers. At present, there is no policy with the regard to direct online sale of goods by manufacturing units. The proposed move is aimed at boosting manufacturing sector in the country.
According to the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), those companies which are manufacturing in India and have FDI, even if it is up to 100 per cent, would be permitted to sell their products through e-commerce platforms.
Over the recent past, the start-up space in India has witnessed phenomenal growth and has drawn support from the government and industry for their efforts towards ushering innovation and job creation.
Addressing the nation on the 69th Independence day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a new campaign "Start-up India, Stand up India" which would promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost entrepreneurship and job creation. This was followed by announcement of Rs. 2000 crore fund for start-ups. Earlier this year, apex body for the IT industry NASSCOM announced an ambitious initiative called 10,000 start-ups, to scale up the start-up ecosystem in India.
As a part of the package of Rs 1.25 lakh Crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 18, 2015 for Bihar, Ministry of Tourism has pledged Rs 600 Crore for various tourism development activities in the State of Bihar.
Keeping in view the vast tourism potential of the State of Bihar, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to consider seven tourism circuits - Vaishali and Bodhgaya development along with other places in Buddhist Circuit including Vikramshila (Rs 200 Crore); Sultanganj to Deoghar project (Rs 50 Crore); Patna Sahib (Rs 50 Crore); Mahatma Gandhi Circuit (Rs 50 Crore); Ramayana Circuit (Rs 100 Crore); Jain Circuit including Champapuri & Pawapuri (Rs 50 Crore); Circuit for Mandar Hills and Ang Kshetra (Rs 50 Crore), the Ministry said.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh will soon give lessons to Maharashtra government on microfinance and how to revive dying Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State.
On a special invitation extended by the State government, Yunus , the founder of Grameen Bank, will hold a discussion with top ministers and bureaucrats on September 6.
Yunus will also hold a discussion with the state government on their road-map for future development of the MSME sector in the State.
In the backdrop of closure of over 30,000 small-scale industries in the state, the State government wants to now try and draw a more efficient mechanism of funding these industries.
The Federation of Industries Jammu (FOIJ) has raised serious concerns over the "non-serious" attitude of Industries Department towards holding regular meetings of the State Level Committee leading to piling up of pending cases of clearance of Central/State incentives of the Industrial Units.
“An urgent meeting of FOIJ was held today under the Chairmanship of Rajesh Jain Chairman, FOIJ to discuss the issue regarding non serious attitude of Industries Department in respect of holding of regular meetings of the State Level Committee since February 2015 resulting huge cases of Central/State Incentives of Industrial Units are lying pending with Director of Industries Jammu/Kashmir resulting into the blockage of huge amount of the Unit Holders,” according to a press release.
Union Government will grant Rs 800 crore under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) to Karnataka for the setting up of separate feeder line to provide 24 hours three-phase quality power supply to the farmers.
Under the scheme, feeders have specially designed transformers to supply power to farmers said Piyush Goyal , Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy. Addressing the media persons after the review meeting of Power Projects in Karnataka Goyal said that the centre is planning to give Rs 1,700 crore additional fund under DDUGJY to the state for the electrification of 8 lakh households of rural Karnataka which have not still been electrified. 24X7 power supply is the mission of the government and state and centre should work together to achieve the target by 2019, he added.
As many as 214 textile entrepreneurs sent separate representations to the Union Government on Thursday seeking extension of the interest subvention scheme to the fabric and yarn manufacturing units in the textile sector.
The plea was made at this juncture as the Union Government was set to take a decision in the next few days. The scheme gives three per cent as interest subvention to offset the credit expenditure.
In its fight against black money, India today signed an information exchange agreement with Seychelles on tax matters, along with pacts to deepen ties in security and defence among other areas.
While the foreign direct investments from Seychelles have been small at just about Rs 1,100 crore over the last 15 years, the Indian Ocean island nation has long been perceived as one of the preferred offshore havens for routing of funds.
India and the UAE have launched a forum to discuss strategies and solutions to investor challenges in India due to taxation and policy related issues and evaluate business opportunities in infrastructure, alternative energy, tourism and finance sectors.
The Arab-India Economic Forum (AIEF), in partnership with the Consulate General of India in Dubai, has been launched to bring together political and business leaders from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt and India.
Noting that UK-India ties are undergoing a major transformation amid flourishing trade and business, Britain today sought concrete steps to further strengthen bonds with states like Odisha in their journey towards poverty reduction and prosperity.
"Since 2010 UK-India relationship has undergone an important transformation. Trade links have been strengthened, business and innovation flourishes, extreme poverty continues to fall," said UK Minister Desmond Swayne at the opening of 'Celebrating Partnerships - UK in Odisha' campaign here.
Noted Indian agriculture scientist Dr Modadugu Vijay Gupta, who has done pioneering work in aquaculture in India, Bangladesh and several Southeast Asian countries, was on Friday awarded the first Sunhak Peace Prize which he shared with the President of Kiribati Islands.
Gupta, 76, shared the USD 1 million prize with President of Kiribati Islands Anote Tong here at a glittering function which was attended by invitees from all over the world.
Banks always charge higher interest rates from MSMEs
Charging of high interest rates by the Banks from the MSMEs is not sporadic but systematic. Analysis of the RBI data on the interest charged by the Banks on borrower groups of different credit limits, bring out very interesting facts. During the period April – December, 2014, 53% of the borrowers within the credit limit of Rs. 10 to 25 Cr. In which most of the small manufacturer may fall, paid interest at rates varying between 9&13%, considered to be a reasonable rate, while 39% of the borrowers in the same group paid higher interest rates upto 17%.
Will Yuan devaluation have a significant impact on India’s export competitiveness?
According to the FISME Factor, 45.5 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that skill India has improved employment prospects of the unskilled while 27.3 percent are not agreed with it and 27.3 percent can’t say anything
“Finding good staff” is something I’m hearing more and more about. It’s consistently in the top three priorities for small business owners.
Having hired, fired, been amazed by, and let down by hundreds of team members over the years, a few lessons have slowly started to sink in.
One thing that has made the biggest difference to my team turnover is “The First Month Daily Email.”
Role of technology in Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises lending
In India, bank lending has undergone a significant transformation over the last decade. Starting with nationalization of banks till recently when private sector banks emerged, bank branches were the sole formal mode to access credit.
Small business owners would approach the bank branch seeking loan and the immediate query by the bank representative would be to know the security / collateral the business owner can provide. Overall, small business lending (including Loan Against Property) comprise 29% of total lending in India.
Here's how you can use YouTube to reach out to millions
For any new startup looking to create a name for itself in the ever expanding markets, brand awareness will always be the primary goal. However, not all young businesses succeed in driving this awareness and a majority of them tend to slowly fade away into obscurity.
But, there are quite a few ventures which have made it big by using creative marketing strategies to reach out to their target niche. And video is a perfect opportunity for startups, to be creative and to show their audience how they are unique and different from their competitors.
An inevitable consequence of development and industrial progress is generation of waste. Therefore, efficient waste management is a matter of international concern and countries have set up robust regulatory waste management regimes for balancing the objectives of development and environment sustainability. In India, the National Environment Policy, 2006 while suggesting measures for controlling various forms of environmental pollution lays emphasis on the need for collection and treatment systems for recycling wastes and devising measures for environmentally safe disposal of residues.
Innovative solar school bag transforms into a writing desk
Prayas Innovation, an international social enterprise, is launching 'YELO', a revolutionary bag that converts into a school desk. This bag would empower students studying in the rural areas of third world countries to study more efficiently.
With millions of students out of school world-wide, India ranks highest amongst countries with students not attending school. Students in rural areas lack access to basic educational infrastructure. Sitting on the floor in incorrect posture for long working hours results in back pain, bad eyesight and inability to concentrate and study.
How Renderlogy brings strong technology to online home décor
Shailesh Goswami is a firm believer in the democratisation of design and technology, and strives to create value by the intersection of the two. Armed with a BTech and an MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, besides an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi, Goswami is responsible for the guardianship and evolution of JBR Interio Technologies Pvt Limited (JBR), a start-up floated in June 2014.
JBR runs Renderlogy, which is touted as the world's first online and automated interior home decor solutions provider.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has released the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2004-05 for the month of April 2015.
FISME regularly receives monthly reports on the economies of various countries from their missions in India. These reports provide information on key economic parameters, trade related information and all news relevant for importers and exporters. In this edition you can take a look at reports on:
Write your comments on the FISME Factor. Share your views and suggestions on MSME issues. Win prize! The best mail will get a special book every fortnight.
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" During last couple of years Indian Banks particularly the Public Sector Banks have over leveraged themselves in sectors such as real estate, telecom and mining. A report carried in DNA (18th June’15) says that ‘just the top 30 cases of defaults account for Rs 1.21 lakh crore, which is almost 40% of the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in banks’. With Reserve Bank of India cracking the whip on Banks to improve their balance sheets, Banks have started squeezing the most vulnerable borrowers: the MSMEs. The accompanying KNN story highlights the ugly truth that even the largest Public Sector Bank – State Bank of India, is charging hapless MSMEs interest rates as high 16.7 % ! There are reports that SBI is even forcing existing borrowers to either provide additional collaterals or reduce borrowing! Such policies are the result of plain short-sightedness and will surely backfire harming both the lender and the borrower. FISME will expose such practices through KNN, social media, as well as other State Industrial Bodies and also place these facts before the top policy makers. "
Hon’ble Minister for Small Scale / MSME, Government of Karnataka Shri Satish Jarkiholi visited FISME on 24th Aug 2015. He was facilitated by FISME office bearers Shri Mohan Suresh former FISME president and now Hon’ble Counsellor of Rwanda (Bangalore); Shri C.S. Goel, Vice President of FISME and Shri Pankaj Bansal, Treasurer.
Shri Jarkiholi held discussions on wide range of issue pertaining to FISME’s support in internationalizing Karnataka based MSMEs both through Trade and investment.
FISME along with ICEC has also offered to provide space in 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Expo 2015 being held at Dongguan, China from 29th to 31st Oct 2015.
A classic founder’s syndrome is to get involved in every functional role at the start-up. Almost every entrepreneur goes through this learning, spreading themselves too thin only to realise that it is not sustainable. Unless you lap up mega bucks from a venture capitalist (VC) in the first few months, you are more than likely to have a young inexperienced (read affordable) team, that will require a lot of grooming and handholding initially. You will find yourself splitting your time between countless activities completely choking your bandwidth.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said it will be "a long time" before India can replace China as a growth engine for the global economy, even if it grows at a faster rate.
The comments assume significance in the wake of a China-led slowdown hurting the markets worldwide in the recent days, which has led to calls in India for taking this crisis situation as an "opportunity" as the global economy may need alternative growth engines.
With the view to bring financial inclusion in the MSME sector, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched two funds by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), a fund of funds with total corpus of Rs 12,000 crore.
The funds are Rs 2,000-crore India Aspiration Fund (IAF) and SIDBI Make in India Loan for Enterprises (SMILE) scheme with an investment size of Rs 10,000 crore.
"India is witnessing a start-up revolution and to harness the potential of India's innovators and entrepreneurs a vibrant financial ecosystem is essential. The IAF is intended to play a vital role in this financial ecosystem," Jaitley said while launching the funds on Tuesday.
NITI Aayog has developed an energy scenario building tool-India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 which aims to explore a range of potential future energy scenarios for India, for diverse energy demand and supply sectors leading up to 2047.
“It explores India’s possible energy scenarios across energy supply sectors such as solar, wind, bio fuels, oil, gas, coal and nuclear and energy demand sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture, cooking and lighting appliances,” NITI Aayog has said in a release.
Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has urged the finance ministry to increase the import duty on both crude and refined edible oils to stem the flow of cheap imports and protect the interest of domestic farmers. Singh, in a letter to the finance ministry, suggested that the import duty on crude edible oil be increased to 10% from 7.5%, and to 20% from 15% in case of refined edible oil. The domestic refining industry has been lobbying hard for the increase in duty. "We have sent the proposal to increase import duty on refined and crude edible oil to the revenue department under the finance ministry, looking at farmers' interest," said an agriculture ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.
CRISIL has analysed 1,050 start-up micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that were rated on the basis of their 2013-14 (financial year April 1 to March 31) financials. For arriving at start-ups, CRISIL has considered MSMEs that started business operations after 2010. The MSMEs featured in the sample are primarily non-e-commerce enterprises that are in the manufacturing and services space.
The analysis reveals that seven sectors - engineering; construction; agri products; textile; printing & packaging; transport & logistics; and outsourcing & support services - account for 68 per cent of these, and 41 per cent are operational in the engineering, construction, and agri products sectors. Several of these sectors form part of the government's 25 sectors under the 'Make in India' programme.
The NPAs of the Corporate sector have a huge impact on the running cost of the small sectors as the large Indian banks, who are under the pressure of increasing non-performing assets, are charging the interest rate of as high as 16.7 per cent from the helpless SMEs.
Small entrepreneurs in the country still continue to groan under the harsh rate of interests offered by the banks to them even as the sector wields enormous power in economy’s empowerment.
Recently, an expert on MSME finance shared his experience at the Butibori Industrial Area in Nagpur where he came across cases of MSME units being charged interest at exorbitant rate of 16.70 per cent per annum with monthly rests on internal rating slipping to SB 14.
To ensure time-bound regulatory clearances for the MSME(micro small and medium enterprises) sector in Odisha, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has pitched for inclusion of the single window mechanism under the ambit of Public Service Guarantee Act of the state government.
"Single Window System for regulatory clearances for MSME is already in place which needs to be activated. It may be covered under Public Service Guarantee Act of the state government which may help time-bound clearances for the start-up of the projects", the RBI, Bhubaneswar office suggested in report on "The State of MSME sector in Odisha: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward".
The government is soon expected to allow foreign and domestic companies with manufacturing units in India to sell their products through online portals directly to consumers. At present, there is no policy with the regard to direct online sale of goods by manufacturing units. The proposed move is aimed at boosting manufacturing sector in the country.
According to the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), those companies which are manufacturing in India and have FDI, even if it is up to 100 per cent, would be permitted to sell their products through e-commerce platforms.
Over the recent past, the start-up space in India has witnessed phenomenal growth and has drawn support from the government and industry for their efforts towards ushering innovation and job creation.
Addressing the nation on the 69th Independence day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a new campaign "Start-up India, Stand up India" which would promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost entrepreneurship and job creation. This was followed by announcement of Rs. 2000 crore fund for start-ups. Earlier this year, apex body for the IT industry NASSCOM announced an ambitious initiative called 10,000 start-ups, to scale up the start-up ecosystem in India.
As a part of the package of Rs 1.25 lakh Crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 18, 2015 for Bihar, Ministry of Tourism has pledged Rs 600 Crore for various tourism development activities in the State of Bihar.
Keeping in view the vast tourism potential of the State of Bihar, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to consider seven tourism circuits - Vaishali and Bodhgaya development along with other places in Buddhist Circuit including Vikramshila (Rs 200 Crore); Sultanganj to Deoghar project (Rs 50 Crore); Patna Sahib (Rs 50 Crore); Mahatma Gandhi Circuit (Rs 50 Crore); Ramayana Circuit (Rs 100 Crore); Jain Circuit including Champapuri & Pawapuri (Rs 50 Crore); Circuit for Mandar Hills and Ang Kshetra (Rs 50 Crore), the Ministry said.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh will soon give lessons to Maharashtra government on microfinance and how to revive dying Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State.
On a special invitation extended by the State government, Yunus , the founder of Grameen Bank, will hold a discussion with top ministers and bureaucrats on September 6.
Yunus will also hold a discussion with the state government on their road-map for future development of the MSME sector in the State.
In the backdrop of closure of over 30,000 small-scale industries in the state, the State government wants to now try and draw a more efficient mechanism of funding these industries.
The Federation of Industries Jammu (FOIJ) has raised serious concerns over the "non-serious" attitude of Industries Department towards holding regular meetings of the State Level Committee leading to piling up of pending cases of clearance of Central/State incentives of the Industrial Units.
“An urgent meeting of FOIJ was held today under the Chairmanship of Rajesh Jain Chairman, FOIJ to discuss the issue regarding non serious attitude of Industries Department in respect of holding of regular meetings of the State Level Committee since February 2015 resulting huge cases of Central/State Incentives of Industrial Units are lying pending with Director of Industries Jammu/Kashmir resulting into the blockage of huge amount of the Unit Holders,” according to a press release.
Union Government will grant Rs 800 crore under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) to Karnataka for the setting up of separate feeder line to provide 24 hours three-phase quality power supply to the farmers.
Under the scheme, feeders have specially designed transformers to supply power to farmers said Piyush Goyal , Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy. Addressing the media persons after the review meeting of Power Projects in Karnataka Goyal said that the centre is planning to give Rs 1,700 crore additional fund under DDUGJY to the state for the electrification of 8 lakh households of rural Karnataka which have not still been electrified. 24X7 power supply is the mission of the government and state and centre should work together to achieve the target by 2019, he added.
In its fight against black money, India today signed an information exchange agreement with Seychelles on tax matters, along with pacts to deepen ties in security and defence among other areas.
While the foreign direct investments from Seychelles have been small at just about Rs 1,100 crore over the last 15 years, the Indian Ocean island nation has long been perceived as one of the preferred offshore havens for routing of funds.
India and the UAE have launched a forum to discuss strategies and solutions to investor challenges in India due to taxation and policy related issues and evaluate business opportunities in infrastructure, alternative energy, tourism and finance sectors.
The Arab-India Economic Forum (AIEF), in partnership with the Consulate General of India in Dubai, has been launched to bring together political and business leaders from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt and India.
Noting that UK-India ties are undergoing a major transformation amid flourishing trade and business, Britain today sought concrete steps to further strengthen bonds with states like Odisha in their journey towards poverty reduction and prosperity.
"Since 2010 UK-India relationship has undergone an important transformation. Trade links have been strengthened, business and innovation flourishes, extreme poverty continues to fall," said UK Minister Desmond Swayne at the opening of 'Celebrating Partnerships - UK in Odisha' campaign here.
Noted Indian agriculture scientist Dr Modadugu Vijay Gupta, who has done pioneering work in aquaculture in India, Bangladesh and several Southeast Asian countries, was on Friday awarded the first Sunhak Peace Prize which he shared with the President of Kiribati Islands.
Gupta, 76, shared the USD 1 million prize with President of Kiribati Islands Anote Tong here at a glittering function which was attended by invitees from all over the world.
Charging of high interest rates by the Banks from the MSMEs is not sporadic but systematic. Analysis of the RBI data on the interest charged by the Banks on borrower groups of different credit limits, bring out very interesting facts. During the period April – December, 2014, 53% of the borrowers within the credit limit of Rs. 10 to 25 Cr. In which most of the small manufacturer may fall, paid interest at rates varying between 9&13%, considered to be a reasonable rate, while 39% of the borrowers in the same group paid higher interest rates upto 17%.
According to the FISME Factor, 45.5 percent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) think that skill India has improved employment prospects of the unskilled while 27.3 percent are not agreed with it and 27.3 percent can’t say anything
“Finding good staff” is something I’m hearing more and more about. It’s consistently in the top three priorities for small business owners.
Having hired, fired, been amazed by, and let down by hundreds of team members over the years, a few lessons have slowly started to sink in.
One thing that has made the biggest difference to my team turnover is “The First Month Daily Email.”
In India, bank lending has undergone a significant transformation over the last decade. Starting with nationalization of banks till recently when private sector banks emerged, bank branches were the sole formal mode to access credit.
Small business owners would approach the bank branch seeking loan and the immediate query by the bank representative would be to know the security / collateral the business owner can provide. Overall, small business lending (including Loan Against Property) comprise 29% of total lending in India.
For any new startup looking to create a name for itself in the ever expanding markets, brand awareness will always be the primary goal. However, not all young businesses succeed in driving this awareness and a majority of them tend to slowly fade away into obscurity.
But, there are quite a few ventures which have made it big by using creative marketing strategies to reach out to their target niche. And video is a perfect opportunity for startups, to be creative and to show their audience how they are unique and different from their competitors.
An inevitable consequence of development and industrial progress is generation of waste. Therefore, efficient waste management is a matter of international concern and countries have set up robust regulatory waste management regimes for balancing the objectives of development and environment sustainability. In India, the National Environment Policy, 2006 while suggesting measures for controlling various forms of environmental pollution lays emphasis on the need for collection and treatment systems for recycling wastes and devising measures for environmentally safe disposal of residues.
Prayas Innovation, an international social enterprise, is launching 'YELO', a revolutionary bag that converts into a school desk. This bag would empower students studying in the rural areas of third world countries to study more efficiently.
With millions of students out of school world-wide, India ranks highest amongst countries with students not attending school. Students in rural areas lack access to basic educational infrastructure. Sitting on the floor in incorrect posture for long working hours results in back pain, bad eyesight and inability to concentrate and study.
Shailesh Goswami is a firm believer in the democratisation of design and technology, and strives to create value by the intersection of the two. Armed with a BTech and an MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, besides an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi, Goswami is responsible for the guardianship and evolution of JBR Interio Technologies Pvt Limited (JBR), a start-up floated in June 2014.
JBR runs Renderlogy, which is touted as the world's first online and automated interior home decor solutions provider.
