In a bid to facilitate small and medium enterprises in Rajkot, Rajkot Engineering Association (REA) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) are planning to start a help desk called Credit Facilitation Centre (CFC) to provide information about finance schemes.

REA-SIDBI to set up help desk for SMEs

Business Standard

Despite an increase in inquiries from both domestic and international customers, the Rs 1,500-crore printing industry in Sivakasi is unable to convert them into orders. Printing units &ndash; mostly SMEs &ndash; are facing power cuts and a slowdown in their traditional businesses of notebooks, text books, novels and labels.

Sivakasi printers unable to convert inquiries into orders

The Indian Confectionery Manufacturers&rsquo; Association (ICMA), a New Delhi-based body that represents around 25 multinational and small and medium confectionery manufacturers in the organised sector, says that the industry is under pressure because of anomalies in the Central government&rsquo;s excise duty structure. In an interview, ICMA President and Chairman of Hyderabad-based Sampre Nutritions Limited B K Gurbani shares with K Rajani Kanth the challenges that the industry is currently facing.

Due to excise duty anomalies, our margins are under pressure: B K Gurbani

Ten years ago, there were some 10,000 safety match factories, employing nearly 750,000 people.

Small matchbox units trump large players in TN

Ours is a SSI unit manufacturing reprocessed plastic granules. We do job-work for a customer who manufactures excisable goods &mdash; i.e., plastic hangers. They send us plastic scrap/chips for processing into granules, which they use for making hangers. I want to know whether reprocessing of plastic scrap is manufacturing or whether service tax is applicable.

'Only job-work that does not amount to manufacture is taxable under service tax law'

Year-on-year increases in the number of new micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) set up in Uttarakhand over the last four years show that the hill industrial policy is slowly yielding results in the state.

Hill industrial policy attracts investments worth Rs 400 cr in Uttarakhand

Things have not been easy for micro and small industries who are finding it tough to operate due to interest rates hitting the roof.

SMEs feel the pinch of high interest cost

Grameen Financial Services (Grameen Koota), the Bangalore-based micro-finance institution is understood to be planning to test the waters to get into housing micro-finance, a segment which is under-served by MFIs in India.

Grameen Koota testing waters to foray into housing microfinance

To cash in on sudden euphoria in the equity markets mutual fund houses say that they will &ldquo;slightly&rdquo; rebalancing their portfolios to take advantage of the rally. Up until now, fund houses were playing it safe by buying into defensive sectors like consumer discretionary and FMCG, now are evaluating to see which sectors to buying to.

Fund houses changing strategy to cash in on rally

With their overseas clients thinking twice before spending on IT products and services, Gujarat-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are witnessing a deferment in contract renewals by 2-3 months. Faltering economic condition has not only seen clients going slow with contract renewals but also seeking renegotiations, say industry players.

Contract renewals slow down for Guj IT SMEs

The leather industry in Tamil Nadu, dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), plans to add fresh capacity by setting up a new cluster. The industry in the state, which accounts for around 40 per cent of India&rsquo;s total leather exports, has chosen Perambalur district as the location of its new cluster.

Leather units to float SPV for new cluster in Tamil Nadu

building, even though their small scale of operations and thin margins make this an expensive proposition.

As competition hots up, SMEs turn savvy brand builders

With internet penetration fast spreading to India&rsquo;s emerging cities for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a new threat has emerged.

Internet boom makes SMEs more vulnerable to cyber attacks than before

With the help of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance&rsquo;s &ldquo;Right Insured&rdquo;, you can now calculate an approximate amount of sum assured you require. Typically, your insurance agent or financial planners will help you derive at your required life cover.

Bajaj Allianz helps you calculate sum assured

The rupee rose to its highest in four and half months late in the trading session on Thursday, helped by continued inflows on hopes for improved global liquidity.

Rupee at 4-1/2-month high on strong inflows

Reuters 

The slowdown in the United States and Europe is likely to cast its shadow over Punjab&rsquo;s hand tool exports. They may decline by 20 per cent in 2012-13, compared to the year-ago level, according to exporters.

Hand tool exports may fall 20% this year

S.No. 6 of the notification no. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2006 exempts services provided by an arbitral tribunal or an individual as an advocate or a partnership firm of advocates by way of legal services to a business entity with a turnover up to rupees ten lakhs in the preceding financial year.

'Services provided in taxable territory alone are taxable'

GlobalOutlook, a Hyderabad-based hosted Microsoft Exchange and business communication services provider, is evaluating opportunities to offer Microsoft Lync 2010, a single interface that unites voice communications, instant messaging, audio-video and web conferencing into a richer, more contextual offering, to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India.

GlobalOutlook to offer SMEs Lync 2010 

The Uttarakhand government may have decided to set up one more industrial estate and a knowledge hub in Kumaon region to attract fresh investments.

Power cuts cause heavy losses to Uttarakhand SMEs

Small and mid-sized IT companies offer the best way to take advantage of the next stage of the emerging market growth story. According to Nasscom, the apex body for the IT industry, the industry expects to grow by 11-14 per cent and this growth will be driven by small and medium companies, which are performing better than tier-I companies.

'Small firms driving IT growth'

Hong Kong-based market research agency, Radar Global, has launched a new quarterly sentiment index of business confidence, economic outlook and bank reputations amongst micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in seven emerging markets: China, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and UAE.

Indian SME Business Confidence is down

SME: Find all the latest news on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in India. Explore more for the top headlines about SME sector on Business Standard.

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