Punjab&rsquo;s textile cluster, in Ludhiana and Lalru (about 30 km from Chandigarh), is gearing up to overcome the impact of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP). The scheme guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Labour scarce in textile units

Business Standard

Sitting in a dark room full of woollen yarn, Samten, 62, a Tibetan refugee, is busy making balls of wool. Despite her old age, Samten labours hard in unknotting the jumbled yarn at Rajpur village in Dehradun, nestled in the foothills of the hill resort of Mussoorie.

Tibetan carpet makers weave their magic in Dehradun

At a time when the Indian automobile sector is slowly getting back on track, forging units in the western region are facing severe hurdles in beating their Chinese counterparts in pricing. Forging units saw a 45 per cent drop in revenues across India in 2008-09, and expect that cheap Chinese forged components will prevent them from improving their business despite the current upsurge in the auto sector.

Forging units hit by imports

Emboldened by the growing consumer preference for value-added dairy products, mid-sized dairy companies in West Bengal are investing close to Rs 200 crore over the next few years in backward and forward integration.

Dairy units in Bengal plan major expansion

With 100 days of work assured to unskilled workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP), the labour supply to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state has been impacted.

Workers take up rural jobs

We earn foreign exchange through services like star hotels, rentals of service apartments, restaurants and other services in the tourism sector, besides sale of immovable property. Please let us know whether we can get Served from India scrips (SFIS) for foreign exchange earned in the previous two years, whether the benefits will be affected if we sell our business and whether we can import capital goods under Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme.

'Approved hotels entitled to SFIS at 10% of forex earnings'

About 500 lac bangle karkhanas (workshops) thrive in Mitti Ka Sher and adjoining Talabkatta and Uttapalli in Hyderabad, each karkhana on average employing 15-20 people. The art of making bangles dates back almost 200 years but bangles remain an evergreen fashion accessory.

Lac bangle makers marginalised

Uttarakhand has not yet felt the pinch of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP), with the exception of the construction industry and manufacturers of construction materials.

Labour shortage not seen as a major problem

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have just got a reason to celebrate.

Tax rebate for software units may be extended for three more years

Entrepreneurs in Mandi Gobindgarh blame the state government for not taking concerted steps to support industry.

Steel cluster withers under power shortage

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Orissa have expressed their resentment over the functioning of the State Level Bankers&rsquo; Committee (SLBC), which meets at regular intervals to monitor the flow of credit to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

Orissa SMEs unhappy over state level banks&#39; functioning

We are an SSI unit. Can we avail of Cenvat Credit on inputs used for the manufacture and clearance of goods bearing the brand name of another person? Please advise us on the precautions to be observed.

&#39;No time limit for taking Cenvat Credit&#39;

Faced with a heavy tax burden, the small-scale wall clock makers of Morbi (Gujarat) are diversifying into ceramics, stationery items and retail. Besides, the industry is also losing ground to the metros and cities like Bangalore, where clock manufacturing has started picking up and taxation levels are lower, Morbi players claim.

Clock makers exit due to high taxes

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), headed by R K Pachauri (chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was a joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007), has started business development services (BDS) for the Rajkot engineering cluster with the support of the SIDBI-MSME Financing and Development Project (MSMEFDP).

TERI scheme to help upgrade foundaries

Even before his company completed nine years of operations, it has set up 22 sugar factories across India's sugar belt. Despite tough times faced by a large number of sugar factories in Maharashtra, Shahaji Bhad-owned S S Engineers clocked a turnover of Rs 300 crore last year. The Sugar Technologists&rsquo; Association of India recently awarded its lifetime achievement award to Pune-based Bhad for his achievements in the small and medium enterprises sector.

'Future growth will come from foreign markets'

Despite a recent directive from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the banking sector that funds of up to Rs 5 lakh should be made available to micro, small and medium enterprises without collateral security, many MSMEs still find it difficult to raise funds in emergencies.

Micro finance firm to the aid of MSMEs

In the 1980s, tour operator Avinash Kohli began exploring new business opportunities in the hills of Garhwal. He found great potential in the white water rafting business on the tidal waves of the river Ganga at Shivpuri, near the holy city of Rishikesh.

Adventure sport business expanding in Uttarakhand

The Waraq (gold and silver foils) business in Hyderabad, which once catered to the needs of all sweetmeat shops, paan houses and Unani hospitals across the state, is fast losing its glitter due to the influx of branded material from Sarangpur in Gujarat and from Uttar Pradesh.

Waraq business loses its sheen

They also expect a recovery during the last quarter of 2009-10, following the late revival of the monsoon.

Machine tool makers de-risk their business

The boom in automobile sales expected during the festive season has raised the hopes of component makers.

Happy days are here again

Ludhiana's textile entrepreneurs introspect, invest in value addition and adopt energy-saving technology.

Innovation is the name of the game

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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