Whoever said only adults can be entrepreneurs? SIES Clinic, founded by two professors, is out to prove them wrong. SIES Clinic, which stands for Start-up, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy Clinic, encourages children to throw up ideas that can be turned into successful business ventures.

Children lord it over adults at this incubator

Business Standard

The increase in commodity prices, coupled with rising fuel and power costs, is eating into the margins of local biscuit manufacturers in Andhra Pradesh.

Input costs eat into local biscuit makers' profits

Arms dealers in West Bengal face a bleak future, as their business has declined drastically over the years due to the state government&rsquo;s tight gun licensing policy.

Arms dealers face bleak future in Bengal

India is set to import both passenger and military aircraft in large numbers, and SMEs have their eyes on orders that could result from the offsets policy.

Aerospace parts business the next growth driver

In line with the optimistic trend seen since December 2010, 78.3 per cent of the SMEs in the packaging industry which participated in a survey carried out by IndiaMART Knowledge Services said that they were planning to increase their production capacity, while 21.7 per cent felt otherwise.

78% of SMEs in packaging industry to expand

This is regarding &lsquo;when to pay the revenue deposit/extra duty deposit&rsquo; amount in case of imports by related parties. We plan to warehouse the imported consignments/goods &lsquo;in bond&rsquo; and later pay the duty amount as and when we clear the goods from the bonded warehouse.

'Duty deposit must be paid at gateway customs before warehousing'

The sanction of loan to priority sectors like agriculture and allied services and MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) units failed to gather momentum in the July-September period as banks struggled to meet their annual credit plan (ACP) for 2011-12, achieving only 43 per cent by September end.

Loans to agriculture, MSME sectors on slow lane

Will expand capacity on the back of robust demand in the domestic market.

Tractor ancillaries upbeat about growth prospects

Massachusetts, USA-headquartered Dassault Syst&egrave;mes SolidWorks Corp., founded in 1993, is a player in 3D software tools that can be used in creating, simulating, publishing and managing data. Pravda Godbole spoke to Bertrand Sicot, the company&rsquo;s CEO, about one of the company&rsquo;s focus areas &mdash; Indian small and medium enterprises.

Q&A: Bertrand Sicot, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp

Wapr, a business-to-business (B2B) collaboration platform created by Core Software, a Hyderabad-based web development outsourcing company, enables just that. Wapr gives SMEs a platform that helps keep everyone up-to-date in real-time.

Core Software creates B2B platform for SMEs 

The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed exclusive industrial estates for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the state.

Separate industrial estates for MSME units proposed

About 11 new industrial hubs will be developed with modern infrastructure.

Uttarakhand to focus on industry in hills

Around 62 per cent of the SME members of the PHD Chamber are satisfied with the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s prevailing definition of sickness, while the remainder feels that there is a need for fine-tuning. Of the latter, the majority (around 50 per cent), felt that sickness should be linked to loss of liquidity.

RBI definition of sickness is right, says survey

We want to dilute the equity of our Special Economic Zone (SEZ) company by transfer of promoter&rsquo;s equity, transfer of developer joint venture or amalgamation/merger of the developer company. We understand that this is not being permitted, as it would amount to sale of land, which is not permissible under the SEZ Act/Rules.

'Sale of equity in SEZ firm does not amount to sale of land'

The nationwide implementation of a new code for bus body manufacturers from April 1 this year is expected to give SMEs in the organised sector a boost, not only in Punjab and Haryana, but across the country. According to industry estimates there are over 100-odd bus body builders in these two states, a majority of them in the SME sector.

New code will give small bus body builders a boost

The presence of leading companies like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Nestle, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Hero Honda and Ashok Leyland, which have set up manufacturing units in Uttarakhand, is offering new opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

SME vendor development scheme launched

As per Public Notice no. 47/2007 dated 7.11.2007 of the JNPT Customs, permission for part-delivery of an import consignment can be given if the packing list is available container-wise and goods are of a homogeneous nature (raw materials, parts, etc.,) against an application. The appraiser, after examination of the part-consignment, shall record the examination report on the reverse of the hard copy of the bill of entry.

'Duty credit scrips can be used to pay customs duties'

A survey of SMEs in the leather industry, conducted by IndiaMART Knowledge Services (IKS), revealed that 61.9 per cent of the respondents said the market for leather products had picked up in 2010 vis-a-vis 2009, while 19.05 per cent replied that it had declined. A similar number of respondents (19.05 per cent) reported no change.

Leather units saw recovery in 2010, says survey

India&rsquo;s granite and marble processing units are grappling with a severe shortage of raw material &mdash; dimensional marble blocks. To overcome this, the industry is seeking a change in the Exim policy, to enable imports of rough dimensional blocks of marble without restrictions.

Marble units have a rough ride

&ldquo;Pranabda has not been fair with us. I used to get Rs 80-100 per day. But because of him, I was unable to earn even a single penny in the last two weeks,&rdquo; says Ranjit Pal, a 51-year-old daily labourer from Howrah in West Bengal.

Garment units in a fix due to excise levy

With aerospace firms outsourcing their work to India to cut product development and manufacturing costs, a whole vista of opportunities has opened up for companies catering to the aerospace sector, Aravind Melligeri, chairman and co-founder, QuEST Global, tells Praveen Bose.

Q&A: Aravind Melligeri, Chairman and co-founder QuEST Global

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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