India currently has 30 million SMEs that are operational. This is significantly large and so the Western Union finds the Indian market very appealing. Further, the number of SMEs is expected to grow in coming years and this will open market for increased money transfer. Western Union wants to take a proactive step in this regard and wishes to play a major role in money transfer services of Indian SMEs. So, it partnered with IndusInd Bank to make its services available to small enterprises based in India.

‘Weizmann Forex Ltd’ and ‘Paul Merchants Ltd’ are the two largest agents of Western Union. IndusInd Bank hired both these agents as referral agents. They are certainly going to add to the money transfer services offered by the bank to Indian SMEs. On receiving requests, agents from Weizmann Forex Ltd and Paul Merchants Ltd, will personally pay visit to offices of customers so as to assist them.

Entrepreneurs will have a wide array of currencies to choose from so as to make international transactions, quick processing of transactions, transparent pricing, automatic notification via email, and increased payment visibility.

Western Union considers India to be a growth opportunity market. India’s increasing population will further fuel long term demand and create growth opportunities. Western Union has made its presence felt in countries such as Europe, Middle East, and other regions.

Aim of the fund is to create multiple kinds of financing options for SC/ST SMEs. Launched with the motto, ‘We will not be job seekers, we will be job givers’, the fund provides an access to equity capital markets, helps in job creation for SC/ST youth, and in economic empowerment through wealth creation. The ‘social impact fund’ initiative has been launched by P. Chidambaram, the Union Finance Minister.

Chidambaram gave assurances that the fund would go a long way in creating social equity. There is no doubt that non-availability of finance is a problem for small enterprises. But, Chidambaram urged that every bank in the country should finance at-least one SC/ST owned enterprise. He also promised to provide help by motivating public sector financial institutions, banks, and LIC to invest in the DICCI SME Fund. It will certainly help to meet its corpus requirements.

The Quality Control Order got implemented in 2009 and this has been in the interest of consumer safety. Pneumatic tyres for automobiles started to come to use from May 13, 2011. As per the order issued by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, it is required for manufacturers, importers and traders to produce and sell tyres and tubes with a certification of quality, performance and safety.

Quality Control Order that should follow the guidelines include tyres and tubes to be fitted in trucks, buses, light vehicles, SUVs and three wheeler vehicles. There has to be a mandatory marking of BIS quality certification on the side walls of tyres and tubes. This has to cover all categories of small, medium and large scale producers of tubes and tyres.

Trouble is that despite the order has been passed there is difficulty in its implementation. Around 240 – 250 small and medium enterprises haven’t yet complied with the order introduced two years ago. These companies haven’t yet complied with mandatory certification from BIS for the tyres and tubes being produced by them. This is the reason why tubes of trucks, buses, LCVs, cars and SUVs not bearing the certified manufacturer’s mark is still a serious problem for consumers. The market is being inundated with non BIS marked tubes and this has posed a major threat.

The 45th ILC saw representatives from various state labour ministries, officials from other departments, employers and employees. Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in his statement, recommended setting up of a ‘National Social Security Fund’ and a minimum pension of Rs 1000 for the entire working population of the country. The ‘Employees Pension Scheme’ is going to be a mandatory scheme for workers who are employed through employers.

Kodikunnil Suresh, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, while speaking in the conference says that at present 27 per cent pensioners get monthly pension of Rs 500 and 56 percent get pension ranging between Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 in a month.

Labour Ministry also urged Government to assist with funds for the purpose as employers and employees are not willing to share the cost. The conference concluded with the note that pension benefits should be responsive to price rises. It also pressed on enacting the right to work legislation. The conference also recommended pension, gratuity and maternity benefits, Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana and Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana for workers engaged in Anganwadi, Mid Day Meal, Asha, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programmes.

Korean small businesses can depend on their bank ‘the Industrial bank of Korea’ to be financed for operating in India. The fund flow will be enhanced with the collaboration of State Bank of India with Industrial Bank of Korea. Currently, there are 480 Korean SMEs operating in India and the number can go up with the signing of this MOU. Companies that are already operating can find new grants for the growth of their business.

Industrial bank of Korea, as such, has no branches in India to extend its financial services to SMEs. But now with the signing of this MOU, it will be able to extend finances to small and medium companies through the State Bank branches. The State Bank Of India is also in the process of establishing a representative office in Seoul. So, this will ensure channelizing business from Korea. Businesses can receive loans not just from SBI branches in India but also branches located abroad.

MOU is signed by Hemant Contractor, managing director & Group Executive of SBI and Jun-Hee Cho CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea. It fosters a guarantee that loans will be made available to Korean SMEs through SBI branches in India.

Following heavy rains, villagers had to evacuate hundreds of workers who live close to salt pans. It is said that this time salt makers were on the verge of harvesting when rains stuck and left lands barren by washing away cultivated salt.

After un-seasonal rains nearly 2,000 salt makers got affected. It resulted in loss of Rs 30-40 crore with the washing away of harvested salt kept in salt pans. Over 200,000 tonnes of salt got washed away due to heavy rains.

The exact loss inflicted to salt makers is in the process of assessment. Compensation from State Government shall be proposed soon. This will help salt making units recover from losses. A memorandum to district collector and block-level revenue officer will be submitted in this regard. Affected people are traditional salt manufacturers who have been doing business for three generations.

During last year, 12 million tonnes of salt were cultivated in Gujarat and it is likely to increase to 14-15 million tonnes. But due to unexpected rains, 10 to15 days of losses happened. Cultivation can resume again when water in the semi – desert region recedes. Exporters also incurred losses as indiscriminate rains washed away Rs 10 crore worth salt lying in stockyards.

This article was submitted by Raj Tulshan, Director of Business Development of Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with financing options and advice to grow their business. Send all questions to info@biz2credit.in

India is the first country to launch this project . Because of this project, industry bodies can play a role to create a comprehensive ecosystem. Now, there can be interventions of Cleantech projects in small and medium enterprises. This project focuses on promoting energy efficiency in India following an interdisciplinary approach.

The Cleantech project will be attained by involving SME clusters, state governments, industry associations, autonomous research centres and partner agencies. This project is going to be launched in close association with international effort.

It is believed that all SMEs will make a shift to energy efficient technology by 2025. The importance of technology, skill, expertise and management are of immense importance in this Cleantech project. The GEF – UNIDO Cleantech Project has the potential to create entrepreneurs and innovators so as to be able to provide solutions that are replicable and scalable. It will create an ecosystem to spur innovation, adoption and implementation among SMEs of India.

This article was submitted by Raj Tulshan, Director of Business Development of Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with financing options and advice to grow their business. Send all questions to info@biz2credit.in

Dollar term exports for 12 months during Financial Year (FY) 2012-13 declined by 6 percent. This is in comparison to the same period the previous year. The declined amount reached to USD 12.92 billion. In March 2012-13, Apparel export has been in the tune of 1.38 billion.

A duty credit scrip of 5 percent is demanded for apparel exports by Chairman AEPC. This is keeping the demand into consideration and the export performance in the year 2012-13. Keeping note of increasing cotton yarn prices, Chairman has decided to ban cotton exports from India and to permit import of duty free yarn and fabrics.

EU’s apparel import remained USD 15.6 billion for Jan –Feb 2013. It is a decline of 3.1 percent compared to the previous year. India’s export to EU in Jan-Feb 2013 is USD 1.1 billion that is a decline of 6.5 percent when compared to previous year’s exports. Bangladesh and Turkey registered an increase in apparel export to EU in February 2013.

In US too, apparel import from India declined 7.2 percent and reached USD 571 million compared to USD 615 million, the previous year. India’s export to EU in 2013 is USD 5.12 billion that is a decline of 21 percent compared to the previous year.

This article was submitted by Raj Tulshan, Director of Business Development of Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with financing options and advice to grow their business. Send all questions to info@biz2credit.in

The advisory also named 86 Chinese companies that the Indian Embassy finds ‘not trustworthy’. Advisory has been circulated to SMEs of Punjab particularly because they are known to import materials from China. But inspite of all the DOs and Don’ts , Indian companies are still placing orders from unverified Chinese companies.

Recently, several incidents of fraud by Chinese companies are reported to ‘Engineering Export Promotion Council’ (EEPE) Office. It means that engineering goods, chemical and sport goods, received from China are flawed. Recently, Ludhiana based ‘Nexo Industries Limited’ reported that it paid full amount to a Chinese company for 25000 kgs of M24 Nuts but it received just 7220 kgs. Another Amritsar based company received water instead of industrial oil in its consignment.

It is mandatory for an Indian Company to run a credential check on Chinese partners before entering into any trade agreement. Indian SMEs should verify the registration documents of the Chinese companies that they are dealing with. No advance payments should be made. If at all there is a requirement, then payments should be done through an Escrow account or Bank Guarantee route.

This article was submitted by Raj Tulshan, Director of Business Development of Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with financing options and advice to grow their business. Send all questions to info@biz2credit.in

MSME sector has an annual compound growth rate of 30.72 percent at the current price rate. Information about the MSME productivity is collected by conducting an All India Census of this sector. The Central Statistics Office also published data about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The compound GDP is found to be 13.51 percent at current prices.

Production in MSMEs is facilitated by Government through implementation of programs related to credit, technology upgradation, entrepreneurial development, infrastructure development and skill development.

There are also various schemes of Government that facilitate growth in production. The major schemes include Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme, Cluster Development Programme, Credit Guarantee Scheme, Performance and Credit Rating Scheme, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme and Skill Development Programme. The MSME ministry is also offering schemes and programmes so as to promote MSME production in North-East, Jammu & Kashmir and the entire country.

This article was submitted by Raj Tulshan, Director of Business Development of Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that connects entrepreneurs with financing options and advice to grow their business. Send all questions to info@biz2credit.in