Having faced the heat of economic slowdown, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in North India can finally breathe easy with the Government of India launching a scheme to improve their productivity.

SME clusters to benefit from 'Lean Manufacturing Scheme'

Business Standard

The festive season has failed to cheer the utensil manufacturers in Jagadhri (Haryana) who have not registered any significant rise in sales in the season.

Jagadhri utensil industry nonchalant over festive season

MSME chamber Indian Industries Association (IIA) has demanded 6 per cent of net bank credit to the micro enterprises in the country.

Industry demands 6% bank credit to MSME

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has commenced a programme to promote the transformation of novel entrepreneurship ideas into business ventures by funding the projects.

MSME ministry to fund innovative entrepreneurship ideas

We are sub-contractors in a mega power project where the main contract awarded to the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor mentions our name and the main contract was awarded through the International Competitive Bidding (ICB) procedure.

'Key infra projects must not suffer excise duty'

IT services company Solutions Enterprise Pvt Ltd&rsquo;s offices in Mumbai and Ahmedabad used to be connected with its partner companies in Britain over the Internet and a virtual private network (VPN). However, the quality of communication had always been poor.

SMEs take to tele-conferencing

A new and innovative consultancy service is on the cards for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Uttarakhand.

Retirees to provide consultancy to MSMEs

The global recession may be showing signs of receding, but Kolkata&rsquo;s leather manufacturers and exporters are still waiting to see the silver lining in the clouds. Many believe that this could happen in the &lsquo;August winter season&rsquo; in 2010 as bulk orders in 2009 have seen no real change compared to the last year-and-a-half of the downturn.

Leather units hit by declining orders

Low-budget movies have earned returns on investment of 300 per cent
Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s smaller production houses, makers of low-budget films, are beginning to put their stamp on the state&rsquo;s film industry which, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), contributes one per cent of Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s state domestic product, estimated at Rs 3,08,136 crore at constant prices in 2008-09.
Small-budget films are becoming popular with movie buffs, notes

Small film makers earn big profits in Tamil Nadu

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Orissa are concerned over non-issuance of the required notification for reimbursement of Value Added Tax (VAT) by the state government. This is despite the budgetary provision of Rs 1 crore in the 2009-10 state budget.

Orissa SMEs resent delay in notifying incentives

Retailers are smiling again this Diwali, but not as widely as they did in the boom time of 2007. Some of the biggest retailers such as Future Group, Spencer's Retail and Bharti Retail, among others, say they expect 20-30 per cent increase in Diwali sales. Last year&rsquo;s Diwali, when the global economy had skidded, it was just about 5-10 per cent.

Retailers expect brighter Diwali, see jump in sales

The firecracker industry in Sivakasi, in interior Tamil Nadu, from where 95 per cent of the Indian output comes from, has said production has declined 20 per cent this year.

Firecracker output down 20% this time, say Sivakasi units

Tractor ancillaries located in and around Chandigarh have defied the downturn and are on a high growth path, at a time when all other industrial clusters in the region are going through difficult times.

Tractor ancillaries on high growth path

Goods cleared from EOU to DTA suffer excise duty equivalent to customs duty payable on a like product, if imported. While calculating the duty amount, the customs tariff rate read with any exemption notification has to be reckoned. Benefit of any end-use-based exemption notification can also be taken, if the end-use conditions are satisfied. Therefore, only 3.09 per cent duty has to be paid on clearances by EOU, under EPCG scheme. In this connection, you may refer to DGFT Policy Circular no.

&#39;EOU-made goods sold in DTA must pay 3.09 pc excise&#39;

Biomass energy developers in Andhra Pradesh have been feeling the pinch of rising fuel prices over the past few months. With the kharif crop failing due to drought this year, the price of rice husk, which has the highest calorific value among the biomass used, is likely to go up further. Also, the recent floods in the state will add to the rising price of biomass.

Rising fuel costs make biomass energy unattractive

The global economic downturn has had a greater impact on the unorganised segment of the timber industry in Kolkata than is at first visible. The crisis has served to further highlight the differences in the way the organised and unorganised segments of the timber industry in the city function.

Kolkata&#39;s unorganised timber industry in distress

Downstream polymer processing units from Gujarat are moving out to tax-free havens like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and neighbouring Daman-Silvassa, blaming high power tariffs.

Polymer firms exit Gujarat, blame high power tariff

The BBN belt, located at the foothills of the Shivalik Ranges, is about 60 km from Chandigarh on National Highway 21A.

Pharma units to invest even as tax holiday nears an end

The procedure of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) for grant of permission to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to commence production &mdash; including its move to charge a consent fee based on a unit&rsquo;s capital investment &mdash; is causing hardship to enterprises in the state.

Pollution Board's high fees hit small and medium industries in Karnataka

More than a year after it came into effect (on April 1, 2008), the Uttarakhand government&rsquo;s hill industrial policy for small units has failed to trigger industrial activity.

Uttarakhand hill industry policy a damp squib

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to which most banks are chary of lending, are being actively wooed by private equity (PE) investors. According to industry representatives around 70 per cent of the PE investment that came into India last year was invested in SMEs.

Private equity investors bet big on Indian SMEs

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