The Bombay Stock Exchange&rsquo;s new exchange for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will go live in September. The exchange has set a target of roping in 500 members and breaking even in five years. Lakshman Gugulothu, chief executive officer, BSE SME Exchange, talks about the salient features of the exchange in an interaction with T E Narasimhan.

Q&A: Lakshman Gugulothu, CEO, BSE SME Exchange

Business Standard

Tractor manufacturers are making rapid strides in the wake of infrastructure development and the mechanisation of agriculture. The past two years have seen the industry growing at over 20 per cent a year. Although the cost of credit has risen, the demand for tractors is growing unabated, and all players &ndash; big and small, including ancillaries &ndash; have benefitted.

Tractor ancillaries gear up to match demand

Three years ago, when digital media entertainment firm Hungama decided to expand its operations, Chief Information Officer Manan Chhatrapati felt cloud computing was the best option. This, even at a time when there were hardly any vendors in India offering these services.

SMEs take to cloud services

The BSE SME Exchange, which is likely to kick-start its operation from September this year, expects to list 1 million potential small and medium enterprises.

BSE SME Exchange eyes 1 mn listings

With enterprises opening their IT set-ups to cloud deployments, security has become a major concern. Cloud adoption is set to see a boom over the next five years in India. US companies like Google have been at the forefront of getting enterprises to switch to cloud services. Recently, the Indian Youth Congress, Indiamart and Punj Lloyd switched to Google&rsquo;s cloud services.

SMEs need strong security tools

The govt has set aside Rs 100 cr for MSMEs in the jute industry.

TN govt to create venture fund for entrepreneurs

In order to ensure safe fun for toddlers, toy manufacturers in India have embarked on a green drive by initiating a recycling process and the use of non-toxic raw materials.

Indian toymakers go green and clean

It&rsquo;s a catch-22 situation for Saurashtra-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Not only is there a manpower shortage, but SMEs are now also finding automation too costly as an alternative.

'Labour is scarce, automation costly'

We have imported certain capital goods under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme two years back under the 3 per cent EPCG scheme. Due to changes in market conditions, we cannot fulfil the export obligation to the extent of eight times the duty saved. An EOU wants to buy the capital goods.

'Imports under EPCG scheme can be transferred to EOUs'

The stage is set for the launch of the SME Exchange by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in September, but most of the potential beneficiaries do not seem to know about it.

New stock exchange an unknown entity

The India Semiconductor Association (ISA) is hopeful that the new policy initiatives charted by the Central government will be approved by the end of this year. In an interview, ISA Chairman Pradip K Dutta, who is also the managing director of the India operations of US-based Synopsys, a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor manufacturing, tells K Rajani Kanth that the National Electronics Mission (NEM) and the Electronics Development Fund (EDF) envisaged by the Centre will help start-ups and SMEs alike in vying for a bigger share of the industry pie.

Q&A: Pradip K Dutta, Chairman, ISA

Faced with power shortages, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Haryana and Punjab are focusing on energy efficiency measures through a variety of projects.

Haryana, Punjab units focus on energy savings

Hardesh Gulati, a B-school grad, has a brilliant idea &ndash; that of building a unique customer relationship management (CRM) platform &ndash; and has already written a business plan prior to floating his own company. However, like his peers, Gulati is confronted with the problem of approaching an angel investor or a venture capital firm to get start-up capital.

Apptivo's fundraising app to foster smaller units in India

We had imported a certain consignment and paid duty. The goods have reached our factory but the Bill of Entry (B/E) is lost. We are unable to take Cenvat Credit.

'Standard input consumption are norms acceptable to CBEC'

Most cricket equipment used by well-known Indian players sport logos of big multi national companies (MNCs) who sponsor them.

SMEs to hit a six with World Cup and IPL-4

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have urged the Centre against enforcing job reservations in the sector.

MSMEs to Centre: Do not enforce job reservation

The Union Minister for Textiles has directed the National Centre for Design and Product Development (NCDPD) and the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) to initiate capacity and skill development programmes for artisans across 30 clusters in the country.

Handcrafting an export boost

The gems and jewellery sector in India, consisting of a large number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has started to shine again, according to a survey conducted by IndiaMART Knowledge Services (previously known as IndiaMART Research Unit).

Gems and jewellery market shines again: Survey

We had taken Cenvat Credit incorrectly but reversed our action before utilising the credit, but now the department says that we must pay interest from the date of taking Credit to the date of reversal.

'Interest is recoverable if Cenvat credit is wrongly taken or utilised'

Dunda handicrafts, known for their grey and white designs, are poised for a radical change.

Dunda weavers to embrace colour

Ahmedabad-based Cluster Pulse has successfully developed an information and communication technology (ICT) cluster of 23 IT start-ups in Switzerland. Known for its cluster development expertise, Cluster Pulse &ndash; an international trade consulting firm which is a group company of the city-based Global Network &ndash; had been working with start-ups for a year to set up an ICT cluster in Switzerland.

Cluster Pulse develops ICT cluster in Switzerland

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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