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E-Commerce Process & Business Expansion

Flipkart Ties-Up With Nepal’s E-Commerce Firm Sastodeal to Enable Cross-Border Trade, Now Its MSMEs Can Sell Their Merchandise Abroad

Flipkart. (Photo Credit: Twitter/@Flipkart)
Flipkart. (Photo Credit: Twitter/@Flipkart)

Good news for India MSMEs. All the Indians MSMEs which are registered with e-commerce giant Flipkart will now be able to sell their merchandise abroad as well as the homegrown e-commerce platform. Flipkart had partnered with an e-commerce company in Nepal named Sastodeal. With this, Flipkart aims to create cross-border trade opportunities for lakhs of sellers who are registered with its platform.

Expressing his opinion on the partnership with Nepal’s Sastodeal, Flipkart’s Head of Marketplace Jagjeet Harode said, as quoted by Financial Express, “The partnership with Sastodeal, a homegrown brand like ours, will not just open doors for a wider market reach to our sellers but also allow them to boost their business significantly.”

With this partnership in place, both the e-commerce company will list products from Flipkart marketplace sellers under various categories including audio devices, men’s clothing, women’s ethnic wear, and sports and fitness, among others. Flipkart states that this new collaboration will help numerous MSMEs — spread across the country — experience newer avenues for business growth. Flipkart also sees this partnership as an opportunity as in Nepal, there has been a surge in online shopping.

Apart from local sellers, Flipkart is also planning to showcase its private brands such as MarQ and SmartBuy under this partnership. Both its brands operate under various categories including electronics, home appliances/home decor, and furnishings. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked the Indian firms to push for increasing domestic production and ramping up exports under Make in India and Vocal for Local initiatives.

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Process & Business Expansion

Logistics Firm Delhivery Mulls to Invest Up to Rs 300 Crore for Expansion Over 2 Years, May Add 150 Trucks to Its Fleet

Logistics firm Delhivery. (Photo Credit: Facebook)
Logistics firm Delhivery. (Photo Credit: Facebook)

New Delhi, August 23: With most the businesses have come to standstill amid the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics firm Delhivery is mulling to invest up to Rs 300 crore in 18-24 months on expansion. The firm is planning to increase its fleet size and set up trucking hubs to meet the increased demands for more organised players in the sector.

According to reports, Delhivery is planning to add around 150 trucks to its fleet apart from launching trucking terminals in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. With this new move, the logistic firm is setting eyes on clocking revenue close to Rs 7,000 crore in the next 24 months, up from Rs 2,800 crore last year.

Informing about the plan, Delhivery Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder Sahil Barua said, as quoted by news agency PTI, “Our total capital investment over the next 18-24 months is going to be in the range of Rs 250-300 crore. We will continue to invest behind growing our trucking network. We are going to launch three of the largest trucking terminals in the country in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.”

Barua added that Delhivery is planning to grow its fleet with Volvo and other partners. He said, “Our own fleet all put together is 300 vehicles. We will expand that to about 400-450 vehicles over the next 18 months.” It is to be known that daily Delhivery operates close to 5,000-7,000 vehicles daily, in association with other partners. He also expects that the firm would grow at least 35-40 per cent this year.

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Process & Business Expansion Startup

GST Registration Applicants Can Opt for Aadhaar Verification Or be Ready for Physical Inspection of Place of Business, Says CBIC

जीएसटी
जीएसटी

New Delhi, August 22: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Friday issued a circular stating that businesses can opt Aadhaar verification for registration of Goods and Services Tax or else be ready for physical verification of the place of business. Usually, physical verification takes 21 days, while the verification through Aadhaar can be done in 3 days.

Issuing a notification, CBIC directed that the new applicants can opt for the authentication of Aadhaar number while applying for GST registration. The new notification will be effective from August 21. However, the government stated that the applicant will have to undertake the said authentication while applying for GST registration.

The notification stated, “Where a person… fails to undergo authentication of Aadhaar number or does not opt for authentication of Aadhaar number, the registration shall be granted only after physical verification of the place of business in the presence of the said person.”

As per details, the linkage of Aadhaar with GST and PAN (permanent account number) would help the government build centralised database available facilitating data analytics and help in checking tax evasion. With this, the GST registration can be granted within 3 days without a physical inspection of the premises.

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Finance Process & Business Expansion Startup

Atal Innovation Mission Ties Up With India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre to Boost Vibrant Start-Up Ecosystem

AIM-Business Sweden tie-up to boost start-up ecosystem.
AIM-Business Sweden tie-up to boost start-up ecosystem.

New Delhi, August 21: India on Thursday signed virtual Statement of Intent (SoI) with Sweden under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to promote the disruptive potential of Indian entrepreneurs. The SoI was signed between AIM, NITI Aayog and Business Sweden on behalf of India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre (ISHIC) to boost the vibrant start-up ecosystem across the country.

With this collaboration, the Indian government is looking forward to receiving support by the means of conducting programs, awareness campaigns, various activities and events. The motive behind the collaboration is to promote the overall innovation grid of both the countries through the initiatives being run by AIM such as Atal Research & Innovation for Small Enterprises (ARISE), Atal Incubation Centre (AIC), Atal Community Innovation Centers (ACIC), Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) and Atal New India Challenge (ANIC).

Informing about the collaboration, NITI Aayog’s Mission Director AIM — R Ramanan — said, “We are very proud that India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre is partnering with us in our endeavours to nourish the existing innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in India while also enabling innovation collaborations with counterparts in Sweden. Such synergies will enable a vibrant growth of world-class Indian startups addressing both Indian and global opportunities leveraging global partnerships and networks of Swedish companies.”

Sharing his opinion on the AIM-Business Sweden tie-up, Swedish Trade Commissioner to India, Anders Wickberg said, “We are very happy to partner with AIM who has been playing a significant role in promoting Indian start-up ecosystem. The collaboration with AIM will further strengthen the India-Sweden healthcare innovation centre eco-system to enable seamless experience and faster scale-up to startups onboarded with the India-Sweden Healthcare innovation centre.”

It is to be known that ISHIC agreed to support all the goals of AIM and hep in enabling synergies towards creating a sustainable ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation between India and Sweden. This includes building a seamless experience for the start-ups. Also, ISHIC has assured to further strengthen and support the innovators in finding solutions to the healthcare sector. Earlier, a similar tie-up was done by ISHIC between AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur and Business Sweden.

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Process & Business Expansion Startup

Uttar Pradesh, France Explore Opportunities to Develop MSME Sectors Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

A worker at an MSME firm
A worker at an MSME firm. | Representative image.

Lucknow, August 21: Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of Uttar Pradesh and the Indian Ambassador to France on Wednesday joined hands to explore possibilities to develop sectors like defence/aerospace, textile, footwear and skill development.

State MSME minister Sidharth Nath Singh held a video conference with Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf intending to ease regulations to promote investments in the state. Both the leaders agreed to set up a working group to relocate disrupted supply chains amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sidharth Nath Singh said, “There is a huge opportunity to increase percentage potential of exports from India and U.P. to France. A large land parcel has been earmarked for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) near the Jewar Airport in Greater Noida which can provide investment opportunities to French companies.”

Stating that the agreements between UP and France would help in the promotion of investments and exports, Additional Chief Secretary (MSME and Export Promotion) Navneet Sehgal said, “U.P. has excellent policies and incentives, and this is a great opportunity to promote investments in the state and exports out of the state to various countries.”

Expressing his opinion, Asraf said that UP was the first state to approach France with its initiative to promote investments and exports and had been successful in changing its image in recent years. Meanwhile, UP MSME Minister said that France is the gateway to the European Union market. He also opined that tie-up with France can be an attractive opportunity for Uttar Pradesh

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Finance

MSME Credit Guarantee Scheme: Banks Disburse More Than Rs 1 Lakh Crore Under ECLGS as Part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Package

रुपया
Money

The banks have disbursed more than Rs 1 lakh crore under the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector, the finance ministry said. The loans have been disbursed fall under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package. The latest numbers on ECLGS, as released by the finance ministry has disbursements by all 12 public sector banks (PSBs), 24 private sector banks and 31 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). The total amount sanctioned under the scheme by banks now stands at Rs 1,50,759.45 crore, of which Rs 1,02,245.77 crore has already been disbursed as of August 18. “Under the 100 per cent ECLGS backed by a Government of India guarantee, banks from public and private sectors have sanctioned loans worth over ₹1.5 lakh crore as of August 18, 2020, of which more than ₹1 lakh crore has already been disbursed,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The disbursement will largely help the MSME sector that has been impacted by the economic slowdown due to COVID-19. The ECLGS was announced by the Government as a part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Package, to mitigate the distress caused by lockdown due to coronavirus lockdown by providing credit to different sectors, especially MSMEs.

Meanwhile, the sanctioned amount too have surged past Rs 1.50 lakh crore at the end of August 18 under the 100 per cent ECLGS for micro, small and medium enterprises. The scheme is the biggest fiscal component of the Rs 20-lakh crore Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in May.

Key Highlights:

1. Business units of Maharashtra have got the highest cumulative sanction of Rs 7,756 crore from banks, while disbursement stood at Rs 6,007 crore at the end of August 18.
2. Tamil Nadu is the second state which has received a sanction of Rs 7,740 crore, and disbursement of Rs 5,693 crore.
3. The scheme will be applicable to all loans sanctioned under GECL facility during the period from the date of announcement of the scheme to October 31 or till the amount of Rs 3 lakh crore is sanctioned under GECL, whichever is earlier.
4. The top lenders under the scheme are State Bank of India (SBI), Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of India, Union Bank of India and HDFC Bank.
5. The scheme will be applicable to all loans sanctioned under GECL facility during the period from the date of announcement of the scheme to October 31 or till the amount of Rs 3 lakh crore is sanctioned under GECL, whichever is earlier.

The Finance Ministry said that under the ECLGS, Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have sanctioned loans of Rs 76,044.44 crore, out of which Rs 56,483.41 crore has already been disbursed whereas Private Sector Banks have sanctioned loans of Rs 74,715.02 crore out of which Rs 45,762.36 crore has already been disbursed. On May 20, the Cabinet approved additional funding of up to Rs 3 lakh crore at a concessional rate of 9.25 per cent through ECLGS for MSME sector.

All MSME borrower accounts with an outstanding credit of up to Rs 50 crore as on February 29, which were less than or equal to 60 days past due as on that date, i.e., regular, SMA-0 and SMA-1 accounts, and with an annual turnover of up to Rs 250 crore, are eligible for GECL funding under the scheme.

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Business motivation Motivational

World Entrepreneurs’ Day 2020: Celebrating Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership by Spreading Awareness

World Entrepreneurs Day 2020
World Entrepreneurs Day 2020. (Photo Credit: http://www.worldentrepreneursday.org/)

An entrepreneur is someone who plays a vital role in developing the nation’s economy by solving the issues of unemployment and generating awareness regarding entrepreneurship. On Friday, the global fraternity will celebrate this day to honour these entrepreneurs, who work hard each day to innovate something new and lead from the front to boost the country’s financial situation.

We all know that India is affected by the coronavirus and its economic situation has taken a roller-coaster ride in the past few months. However, Indian entrepreneurs are trying their best to cope-up with financial instability. Not only these entrepreneurs are pacing up India’s economy with their latest innovations, but are also spreading awareness through their leadership skills. World Entrepreneurs’ Day 2020 allows honouring these hardworking entrepreneurs for all their efforts to keep India’s business sector move forward.

The special day is dedicated to founders, managers, producers, contractors, industrialists, innovators, administrators, designers and producers. As per Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute (GEDI) data, India currently stands at 68th position — out of 137 countries — in entrepreneurship development.

Considering the significance of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs need 3 Cs for success — capital, courage and conviction — to grow their business in the global market. It is said that without an enterprise and entrepreneurs innovation, productivity growth and new jobs are unthinkable. Through the World Entrepreneurs’ Day 2020, events like conferences, workshop and meetings, can spread awareness regarding leadership, innovation, creativity, design, entrepreneurship and other related topics.

Here are some tips to celebrate and honour entrepreneurs on World Entrepreneurs’ Day 2020:

1) Enterprises can organise conferences, workshops and meetings at various platforms. Through this, they can generate awareness regarding entrepreneurship and leadership.

2) Business Schools can organise conferences by collaborating with large enterprises. During the conferences, successful entrepreneurs can share their experiences with the upcoming entrepreneurs and motivate them.

3) Business firms can provide discounts and promotions during the World Entrepreneur’s Day.

4) Radio and television networks can prepare programs to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship. Also, talk shows can be scheduled to educate the population about entrepreneurship.

5) Universities, government organisations and private firms can organise a group seminar or workshop regarding government policies and hurdles associated with it. Also, discussing financial solutions to set up a firm and ways to sustain in the market would certainly motivate young entrepreneurs.

Apart from this, there are several ways to celebrate World Entrepreneurs’ Day 2020. However, the motto behind the celebrations should be spreading awareness and clearing doubts. Experts believe nourishing a healthy startup environment across the country is the most vital part for developing entrepreneurs. On this special day, lets help in igniting new minds and shape them in the right direction.

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Business motivation

Business startup ideas after COVID-19

COVID-19 has taken its toll on the global economy in the most unthinkable and unimaginable ways and the global economy is experiencing an all-time low. This pandemic has inflicted damage and affected the overall health of the MSMEs and entrepreneurship that generate a heavy revenue contributing to the economy. It is crucial to think of how to stay relevant these days and to help you with that, we’ve shared a few start-up business ideas that won’t let you down.

There are some businesses that are either unaffected by COVID-19 or have flourished even more, standing the test of time. In this article, our objective is to introduce you to 4 such industries that have proved themself to be “corona-proof” and can end up being the best businesses to initiate your start-up.

 

1.    Over The Top Platforms/Online Gaming
Nobody can deny the fact that all we have been doing these lockdowns is watching movies and TV series on OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. This fact itself proved that viewers, who have been quite anxious about the ban on movie theatres and gaming parlours, have resorted to the over the top platforms and online games. The people, especially the older generation, who initially were not very comfortable with the change, are now welcoming this change with an open heart. This shift in the interests of the viewers has proved that this industry will continue to bloom even after the pandemic is over!

 

2.    EdTech
From the worried parents to many of us sitting ideal during these lockdowns, the EdTech industry has emerged to be the biggest support. Where on one hand, students were able to learn from home, millions of us across the globe have leveraged Edtech and enrolled ourselves in many courses. EdTech has not only helped students repair and recover their disrupted schedules, it has given many professionals a chance to develop new skills and hone the already acquired. Now that EdTech has proved its mettle, we cannot help but accept that, come what may, this industry is here to stay!

 

 3. The Health Industry
The health sector has been the one that has evolved dramatically of late. It has been the time where the health and wellness businesses have boomed because of how aware the world has become of their health and well-being. We all must have received this advice, directly or indirectly, to boost our immunity as it will help us keep fit and less prone to the infections out there. Making them most important in our lives in these unprecedented times, they are certainly going to experience a boom.

 

4. E-commerce platforms
We all know how brick and mortar stores have been hit the hardest as people have restricted their outdoor visits in a bid to maintain social distancing. The industry that has leveraged the most out of these restrictions is the e-commerce industry! There has been a major shift in the behavior of the consumer as they were forced to go online to make the necessary purchases. Now that the consumer has started to feel comfortable buying online, they are preferring to buy almost everything online. It goes without saying that this industry is cherishing this rise in the business and riding high on the pandemic boom.

 

 

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Finance Strategy

GST Council Likely to Meet on August 27 to Discuss Compensation Payout to States

जीएसटी
जीएसटी

New Delhi, August 19: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to meet on August 27 to discuss the compensation pay-out to states. The council will also discuss the opinion of the Attorney General on the legality of market borrowing to meet revenue shortfall. This will be the 41st meeting of the GST Council and will be held via video conference. Sources reveal that the meeting would be a single agenda meeting on states’ compensation.

A full-fledged meeting of the Council would be held on September 19, the agenda for which is to be decided, a report by news agency PTI said. The Attorney General, the chief legal officer of the government, is of the opinion that the Centre has no statutory obligation to make up for any shortfall in GST revenues of states from its coffers, sources revealed.

They had earlier indicated that following the AG’s opinion, states may now have to look at market borrowings to meet the revenue shortfall and the GST Council will take a final call. In March, the Centre had sought views from Attorney General KK Venugopal on the legality of market borrowing by the GST Council to make up for any shortfall in compensation fund – a corpus created from levy of additional tax on luxury and sin goods to compensate states for revenue shortfall arising from their taxes being subsumed into GST.

Reports inform that the Attorney General had also opined that the Council would have to decide on meeting the shortfall in the GST compensation fund by providing the sufficient amount to be credited to the fund. As per sources, the options before the Council for meeting the shortfall could be to rationalize GST rates, cover more items under the compensation cess or increase the compensation cess, or recommend higher borrowing by states to be repaid by the future collection into the compensation fund.

Under the GST law, states were guaranteed to be compensated bi-monthly for any loss of revenue in the first five years of the GST implementation from July 1, 2017. The shortfall is calculated assuming a 14 per cent annual growth in GST collections by states over the base year of 2015-16. Under the GST structure, taxes are levied under 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent slabs. On top of the highest tax slab, a cess is levied on luxury, sin and demerit goods and the proceeds from the same are used to compensate states for any revenue loss.

The GST Council has to decide how to meet the shortfall in such circumstances and not the central government, sources added.  Any borrowing of the central government is upon the security of the Consolidated Fund of India. Similarly, borrowing by a state government is upon the security of the consolidated fund of the state.

In either case, it would lead to increased general government debt burden and also a higher fiscal deficit. The payment of GST compensation to states became an issue after revenues from the imposition of cess started dwindling since August 2019 and the Centre had to dive into the excess cess amount collected during 2017-18 and 2018-19.

In 2019-20, the Centre had released over Rs 1.65 lakh crore as GST compensation. However, the amount of cess collected during the year 2019-20 was Rs 95,444 crore. The compensation payout amount was Rs 69,275 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 41,146 crore in 2017-18.

 

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Startup

UP MSME Act of 2020 Introduced by Uttar Pradesh Government to Ease Conditions for Setting up Medium And Small Enterprises in State

MSME
MSME (Photo Credits: Wikipedia)

Lucknow, August 20: Uttar Pradesh is bringing an Act to ease the conditions for setting up Medium And Small Enterprises (MSME) units in Uttar Pradesh. According to a Times of India report, under this Act, an investor will be given 1,000 days to get necessary clearances after the first go-ahead. The new UP MSME (Establishment and Operations) Act of 2020, was cleared by the cabinet recently.

How does it work?

A person will have to make an application through a Declaration of Intent to a district-level nodal agency, which will have to issue an acknowledgement within 72 hours of receiving the application. On the basis of this acknowledgement, one will be able to establish their unit. At present, if a person wants to set up an MSME unit in UP, they need to get clearances from 29 different departments.

Units Not Covered in this Act:

However, there are certain restrictions as there are certain units that will not be covered by the Act. From products, gutka, pan masala etc, alcohol, to plastic bags of 40 microns or less or as banned by the government from time to time, Also, any other item identified by UP Pollution Control Board as a red category is also not covered under this Act.