The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has rated West Bengal as the highest employment generating state in the small and medium enterprises sector in the country.

Bengal leading job creator in SME sector

Business Standard

For Shaizad, a second-year mechanical engineering student at the Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, setting off on an entrepreneurial journey to commercialise his invention is the ultimate goal.

NEN nurtures start-ups at college campuses

Religare Finvest Limited (RFL), a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL), is a SME- and MSME-focused lender having a loan book size of Rs 13,000 crore built organically over the last three years and targeting Rs 25,000 crore in the next two years. In an e-mail interaction with Pravda Godbole, Kavi Arora, RFL&rsquo;s CEO, dwells on the issue of finance for MSMEs and the company&rsquo;s decision to focus on this sector.

MSME financing presents a unique and scalable funding opportunity: Kavi Arora  

For Uttarakhand&rsquo;s poor apple growers, a Dutch-designed philanthropic business model, comprising six small companies and nearly 4,000 farmers, has brought the promise of growth and prosperity.

Social enterprise model gives new life to apple biz

We want to know if the notifications exempting certain services from service tax will hold good even after the passage of the Budget through Parliament and the coming into force of the new service tax regime based on a negative list.

'Service tax exemptions to be cut to 10 categories from July'

Rajkot-based pump makers are planning to bring uniformity in the design of submersible pumps made here. With the help of the Rajkot Engineering Association, the pump industry is setting up a common facility centre (CFC), where pump testing and R&amp;D work will be done. According to pump industry players, the initiative will make small pump manufactures stronger and help them grow faster.

Rajkot's pumps to get uniform designs

Approved by the Government of India in 2009, a project to develop a foundry and machine tool cluster at Batala in Punjab is yet to receive assistance from the Centre. As a result, the cluster is yet to see the light of day and the existing units are struggling.

Batala machine tool cluster yet to receive Central aid 

There is good news for the MSME sector in Uttarakhand. The State Bank of India (SBI), India&rsquo;s largest bank, will open an MSME branch at the Selaqui industrial area, near here.

Banks to open SME branches in industrial areas of Uttarakhand

To give a boost to products manufactured by women&rsquo;s Self Help Group (SHGs) in Tamil Nadu, the state government plans to give them a unique brand identity with a logo and monogram. It also plans to develop the concept of &ldquo;one village-one product&rdquo;, as well as new clusters.

TN to give boost to products made by women's SHGs

The Customs want to reject our import invoice price on the basis of PLATT&rsquo;s Price Report.

'Export of services will now be governed by new provisions'

Buoyed by the success of its basic cluster programme for suppliers in Ballabhgarh (Haryana), construction equipment manufacturer JCB India has kicked off an advanced cluster programme for its vendors.

JCB looks to gain from cluster approach  

Gujarat&rsquo;s Rajkot region is poised to lose the tag of being home to a diesel engine manufacturing cluster. Most of Rajkot&rsquo;s diesel engine manufacturers are switching to products such as submersible pumps and auto parts.

Rajkot diesel engine makers switch to other products

In the new regime which taxes all services, except those that are in the negative list, are artists exempted? I do bit roles in films (we are called extras) and television.

'Performing artists in folk or classical art forms need not pay service tax'

Faquir Chand of village Machrauli near Panipat in Haryana is hunting for a job that could match his skill-set. &ldquo;I lost my job after working for 15 years in the handloom industry owing to the scaling down of manufacturing activity in this cluster due to dissipating demand,&rdquo; he said.

SMEs turn unviable, enter real estate

If the import itself is not contrary to any law and the supplier still holds the title to the goods, he can ask for re-export of the goods to any party in any country. This issue is covered in the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Union of India vs.

'Foreign suppliers can ask for re-export of imported goods if they are not paid for'

With huge investments lined up in urban infrastructure development, estimated at Rs 39.2 lakh crore over the next 20 years, as well as in the power, pipeline and oil and gas sectors, valve manufacturers in the country are riding on a new high.

Small valve manufacturers gear up for explosive demand growth

We have to initiate exports of certain items under ITC HS code 84128030 and, according to fixed Duty Drawback schedule, are entitled to 1.1 per cent. For the exports of entire equipment or parts thereof&rsquo; we imported certain items under Advance Licence Scheme. The exports are to be effected in about two weeks&rsquo; time. Please advise if we can claim Duty Drawback on likely exports. We imported certain components for incorporation in the equipment we have to export, partly we manufactured and partly we procured certain items locally within India for completing the equipment. It would be our first commercial export consignment and we are not yet registered under Excise.

'Drawback rates do not apply to goods produced in discharge of export obligation'

Pathankot, located 200 km north of Chandigarh in Punjab, may soon be regarded as a place of distinction on the industrial map of India. Handicrafts produced by women artisans of the region have caught the fancy of the district administration as well as a non-government organisation, and this may lead to the formation of a cluster.

Crafting a change

While automakers have gone ahead and increased prices to offset the hike in excise duties proposed in the budget, the auto component industry is in a bind over passing on the burden &ndash; especially in the aftermarket or replacement market &ndash; owing to intense competition from both unorganised players and imports.

Auto parts makers in a bind over passing on excise hike

The brass parts industry based out of Jamnagar is yet again trying to survive the global recession. In a bid to tackle the current economic crisis, the industry has cut output by almost 30-40 per cent.

Jamnagar brass industry cuts output

I run an e-commerce company, located at Bangalore. Upon receiving an order from a customer living in India, I wish to package and ship goods directly from my supplier located at Dehradun, to customers anywhere in India. What kind of taxes, VAT, Octroi, CST, etc.

'CST payable on sales if goods move from one state to another'

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.

Page 116 - SME