Category: Startup

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Startup

Production Linked Incentives Scheme: Govt Approves PLI Scheme For 10 Sectors; Here’s What is PLI Scheme & How it Works

Automobile Industry
Automobile Industry (Photo Credits: Pxfuel)

Mumbai, November 11: Just ahead of Diwali 2020 and amid the coronavirus outbreak, Narendra Modi government announced Diwali bonanza for different sectors in India. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle clearance to Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for ten sectors including white goods, auto, auto components and battery manufacturing wherein sops worth Rs 1.47 lakh crore would be given over the next five years.

According to reports, among sectors, auto components and automobile sectors have received the maximum incentive of Rs 57,000 crore.

The scheme is aimed to give an impetus to India’s manufacturing, by providing subsidies and incentives to sectors which excel in their performance.

What is PLI?

The PLI is part of the government’s plan to make India an attractive manufacturing destination and self-reliant besides helping it emerge as a strong alternative to China. It aims to do this through reduced corporate tax rate of 25 percent, PLI benefits and phased manufacturing plan (PMP).

“The PLI scheme will make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investment and enhance exports,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, following the Cabinet’s decision.

PLI will not only make India self-reliant but will also create more jobs in the country

How will it work?

The Centre will give incentives on additional production and will allow companies to export products made in India. The PLI scheme now offers 4-6 percent incentive to eligible electronic companies on incremental sales (over the base year of 2019-20) of manufactured goods–mobile phones and electronic components such as printed circuit boards, sensors, among others–for a period of five years.

There is no cap on the number of companies that will be eligible for PLI under each category, for now, said FM Sitharaman.

The decision of the Union Cabinet was announced by information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar along with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Wednesday. PLI will thus aid economic recovery while remaining committed to an open and global economy.

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Startup

3 Social Media Strategies Which Small Firms Can Use to Revive Their Business Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

Social media Marketing
Social media Marketing (Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons)

Mumbai, November 10: The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone across the globe and small businesses are the worst hit. Businesses have been severely affected due to the coronavirus induced lockdown. However, with the opening up of the economy, things are getting better.

Small firms, therefore, need to draw out a proper plan and a strategy which will help them move forward and tide through the difficult times. They will have to keep in mind to use the resources in hand wisely and devise strategies which will reap the maximum results.

We bring to you three cost-effective social media strategies which you can use to revive your business:

The coronavirus pandemic has taught us the importance of technology. At a time when the entire world was shut down, it was technology which kept things running.

  1. Have a website: Start a website giving details to the customers about your business. There should be a contact us and a feedback page, which will help you get in touch with your probable customers. Now use this link on all your social media handles. This will be the face of your brand in the online world.
  2. Have a strong social media presence: If you have been thinking to start a Facebook page or an Instagram page for your business, our advice is DON’T DELAY. These social media platforms are a great way for small firms to promote their business and get in touch with people who are looking out for them.

    In today’s age, you need to start a page on all the social media platforms and can’t think of which one will be more beneficial to you. Remember to populate your page at least three times a week. This will help your customers to remember you.

  3. Be Human: Remember one thing that customers like to interact with humans. So your posts should also have a humanely touch. Don’t ignore any queries from your customers on your social media page. Attention should be given on how to make your customers feel special.

Today social media has become an important part of all our lives, and this is the reason, why you can’t afford to ignore this space. People today spend a good amount of their time on social media and this is where you need to target your probable customers.

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Startup

Shell India Plans to Engage With At least 30 Startups Every Year From 2020 Through Its E4 Programme, to Help Them Scale Their Business

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Bangalore, November 9: Shell India is planning to engage with 25-30 startups every year from 2022 onwards through its E4 Programme. The objective is to help them scale their business.

According to a PTI report, Shell, under E4 Programme, incubates and supports startups via various modules of linking talent, technology, capital and know-how to accelerate India’s transition to a sustainable energy future. Over the last 3 years, the company has been able to engage with 30 startups and supported them with investments and mentoring at Shell campus located in India.

Shell E4 Programme, general manager, James Unterreiner as quoted in the PTI report said, “We have 30 start-ups now that have come through the E4 program and we’re in the process of adding 10 to 12 more that’ll start the program in January. We’re planning on ramping the program to 25 to 30 annually. So, the first couple of years have been a slow ramp to get there and now we’re at that run rate where we expect 25 to 30 annually.”

Shell has been working hard to ensure that energy startups become commercially viable, where they can engage with investors and corporates.

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Finance Startup

5 Important Points To Prepare For Your Investor Meetings

Waiting to start an entrepreneurial journey, but freaking out with thoughts about how to conceptualize your business idea? Or have one great idea, but no funds to execute it? Then let us tell you that your journey has just started. Today, investors are looking forward to enduring some great business ideas and invest in those business ideas that can elevate to the next level of success.

The hard part is to pitch your idea to an investor and explain you are right concept without going in the wrong direction. Your months of research work and strategy can go wrong if you are not prepared well for the funding process. In this pandemic, many startups have gained investors in their business, and you must be thinking about what homework you need to have one good investor on board.

Here are a few tips that can help you to generate valuable partnerships or investor for your first meeting-

Make a Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is an important starting point, and your pitch deck categorically asserts the significant aspects of your business idea and product or service. Professionals always like documents and data to run through while talking about your idea. Well, the data explained, and the number shows the hard work you’ve done. It also gives the impression of preparation for the meeting.

Use graphs and pictures to present your strategies. Ensure that your slides are sharp and accurate. It also assists you in not missing valuable points to share.

Describe Your Story

Story narration plays a significant factor while making a pitch to an investor. It’s a human tendency to love stories that inspire them. A well-narrated story always brings an instant connection with a potential investor and helps you to indulge in your idea.

Make sure you display your passion and willing to risk your project. The more passion and commitment you have toward your dream, the more beneficial it will be to you.

The Team You Bring on Table

Most investors don’t generally put money just on the idea you share, but they also put money on the team that will run the concept. Therefore, when you meet, remember to introduce or discuss the team and its Essential Skills. Ensure that they can help you carry the idea to the heights you plan for them.

The main purpose here is to show that you are willing to make an effort to reach the goal you have done.

Industry Updates

For growing and staying in the industry, you should know about the competition also. To creak the opportunity, prepare the list before meeting with the investor. Then showcase how you are different from them. Also, work on a roadmap project to deal with the competition. 

Make a Financial Model

Make sure you have this discussion as your investor will be investing money in your idea until you share your plan on how you can utilize your money. Prepare the forecast of the financial model for the next 5 years. Try to give a clear picture you can provide to the investor.

Make sure, to be honest with your investors. Every investor aims to look for sincerity in the people they are backing up. We suggest you do your homework before meeting them as it will give you a good possibility of raising funds from investors.

 

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MSME Startup

Gift Shops: 5 Tips to Follow to Revive Your Gift Shop Business Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Gift shop Business
Gift shop Business (Photo Credits: Flickr)

Mumbai, November 6: Coronavirus pandemic affected every business across the world. From job losses to pink slips, majority of the companies have suffered.  It has been more difficult for small businesses, like gift shops, who had to remain shut for several months in the middle of the lockdown.

Gift shop business is a revenue-generating venture, provided you keep a few things in mind. Across the globe, in the past decade, this business has witnessed a huge growth because of the increase in application for inventive products and extension in the customer base.

Now with the ease in the restrictions, and with the economy opening up, these businesses have also started operating.

Here are 5 tips which you can follow to make your business successful: 

Have Strong Online Presence: In today’s age, there is no other alternative, but you need to have a strong online presence. From having an e-commerce website to allowing customers to discover your brand on social media platforms, you should never miss this opportunity.

Spend your funds wisely: After remaining shut for several months, it is very important to use your resources and funds wisely.

Choose Your Niche, Be Original: Remember there are thousands of gift shops in the market. Try and understand how your shop will be different from the rest. It is very important to be original in your idea in order to stand out from the clutter.

Pay attention to hygiene: Since you are opening the shop in the middle of the pandemic. You need to take care of the hygiene and pay other attention to precautions that need to be maintained amid the pandemic.

Make your shop look attractive: Being a gift shop, you will have different items to showcase. Design your shop in such a manner so that you can manage to attract the attention of the audience. Your shop may not be big in terms of the space, but utilise it with proper planning without making it look cluttered.

 

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Startup

What is the Difference Between a Startup And Small Business Venture? Here Are 3 Key Differences

Startup Vs Small Business Venture
Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Bangalore, November 5: Startup is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable economic model. A startup is often confused with a small business, however, there are key differences which one needs to understand in how they function.

Amid the tough market conditions, it is difficult to run a small business and more difficult is to see a startup grow.

Growth Plans

Startups are different from small ventures mainly because they are designed to grow fast on limited resources internally. Startups have an essential need for rapid growth.

Small businesses also seek growth, but more conservative growth which includes creating reliable, long-term income streams.

Funding:

Apart from having different growth strategies, startups seek financial investment differently than most small businesses. Startups rely on capital that comes by means of angel investors or venture capital firms. On the other hand, small business ventures may tend to rely on loans and grants from financial institutions.

A startup requires constant investment at every stage of their growth, which will help them to reach the next level. This is the reason, why user number metrics are so important to startups as they indicate what percentage of their target market has been achieved.

Risk-Taking Capability

Compared to small business ventures, startups have an aggressive risk-taking capability. A startup undertakes several risks like- product risk, market risk and financial risk. For a startup, it is also very important to know their customer and why, how and where they buy related products is arguably the most important risk factor to assess before launching the product. For startups, the risk is mainly tougher because the product is new and it will be a different experience for the public.

Small businesses also take risks, but they are usually of a different nature. The time to prove their success in the market is usually more.

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Startup

Startups in India: 6 Women-Led Startups Win COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge Organised by MyGov in Collaboration With UN Women

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

In a major boost to women-led startups in India, six startups by female entrepreneurs have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge organized by MyGov in collaboration with UN Women. MyGov in collaboration with UN Women, launched the COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge in April 2020 to encourage and involve women led startups to come up with innovative solutions that can help in the fight against COVID19 or solve problems that impact a large number of women.

After thorough screening, 25 startups were shortlisted for presentations to the Jury which included Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM, Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer (CTO) Microsoft India, Dr R Ramanan, MD Atal Innovation Mission, Nishtha Satyam, Dy Country representative, UN Women India and Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov. In addition to the earlier announced reward of Rs 5 lakhs for the top 3 winners, UN Women was generous enough to agree to reward Rs 2 lakhs each to the 3 startups chosen for their promising solutions.

Top 3 Female Entrepreneurs Who Won Are:

  1. Dr P Gayatri Hela is the founder of Bengaluru-based Resada Lifesciences Private Limited that designs and develops home and agricultural-based products using plant extracts instead of synthetic chemicals. As per Gayatri, germs and other bacteria/viruses become resistant to chemicals over time, whereas nature always has a way of fighting back against these organisms. For Shri Shakti Challenge, Gayatri submittedherinnovative product which is a non-alcoholic hand sanitizer that is  relevant not only for COVID- 19 but also for other infections. The idea had come to her in 2017, when she was battling the SARS pandemic with her with her one-year old daughter.
  2. Romita Ghosh,a cancer survivor, is the founder of Shimla-based iHeal HealthTech Private Limited which is a healthcare start-up that has been at the forefront of the fight against COVID and has been providing PPE kits to hospitals. Romita has also built a Made in India UV sterilization box for safe reuse of PPEs and masks that can help reduce costs for hospitals and other service providers.
  3. Dr Anjana Ramkumar and Dr Anushka Ashokan are the product manager and co-founder of Kerala based Thanmatra Innovations Private Limited have come up with the innovative solution of an anti-microbial solution that could be sprayed into handkerchiefs or dupattas for making them safe to be used as Face Masks. This also made it easier to protect kids. Their innovation is simple and scalable and can help convert any piece of cloth to anti-viral mask within minutes by a simple process of spraying and drying with their unique formulation.

Top 3 Startups identified as‘Promising Solutions’are:

  1. Vasanthi Palanivel, is the CEO & Co-Founder of Bengaluru-based Seragen BioTherapeutics Private Limited.As a scientist and researcher, she studied the symptoms and impacts of the virus and realized that the lungs were one of the worst infected organs in COVID and she has developed a plasma solution to treat respiratory distress due to COVID-19.
  2. Shivi Kapil is the cofounder of Bengaluru-based Empathy Design Labsthat focuses on healthcare, and took the pandemic as an opportunity to design solutions for pregnant women who could not go to the hospital due to risk of infection. Shehas designed Kriya, a wearable device for daily monitoring of pregnancy. The IoT-embedded product provides alerts and suggestions to expecting parents for timely action.
  3. Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar – a mother daughter duo are the founder and co-founder of STREAM Minds, and ed-tech company that works on promoting Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Arts, and Mathematics education among school children across India. They have designed ‘Dobot’, a fully automated robot which acts as an in-house delivery assistant to make hospitals and healthcare clinics safe from the risks of COVID19.

MyGov congratulated the winners of Shri Shakti Challenge and hope that the solutions developed by them mature into full-blown products, and can scale up into robust solutions that help in our fight against COVID19; and of course also help address challenges facing women. All the winners and the participants of Shri Shakti Challenge are true testimony to the talent pool that exists in India and this challenge will go a long way in promoting women entrepreneurship in India.

All 25 selected startups presented their solutions to the Jury which evaluated the solutions proposed by the startups on the parameters that included innovation, usability, relevance and impact of their idea on the society. After thorough review, 11 finalists were chosen for the next stage. All the 11 selected startups were provided a prize money of Rs 75,000 each to further develop their ideas.

After giving time to the 11 Startups to develop the solutions, the final presentations were again made to the Jury on October 27, 2020. The quality of the solutions presented was excellent and the Jury had a tough time evaluating them. After intense discussions and deliberations, the Jury selected top 3 entries as winners, and in view of the high quality of solutions presented decided to recognize 3 additional entries as ‘Promising Solutions’.

This was a unique challenge hosted on the Innovate platform of MyGov that called for applications from women led startups as well as startups who have solutions that address issues faced by a larger number of women. The Challenge was implemented in two stages: Ideation stage and Proof of Concept (PoC) Stage. The challenge received an overwhelming response with a total of 1265 entries, from across the nation.

Mentorship sessions were organized to enable graduation of the ideas into Proof of Concepts that can be scaled up. These sessions were topics that included Business Modelling, Financial Modelling, Legal Certifications, Digital Marketing, Product Design, Art of making Pitch and were conducted with the support of NASSCOM, Industry Experts, and the Atal Incubation Centre  at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

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Startup

COVID-19 Impact on Women-Founded Startups: Funding Drops 24% in H1 2020

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Bengaluru, October 29: The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone, from businesses being shut to people being offered pink slips. It has not been a great time for women-founded and co-founded startups. According to an IANS report, funding fell 24 percent to $280 million in the first half of this year, compared to $369 million in the same period last year.

It was witnessed that finding declined across all the three stages- early, growth, and late — compared to H1 2019, said the report by MAKERS India. The report titled “State of Women in Tech Entrepreneurship in India 2020” shared that many women-led startups in order to stay afloat in the middle of the pandemic scaled down their operations or pivoted their business models

There were a few women, who infact branched out to different operations. Like women behind some apparel startups branched out to manufacturing protective face masks and PPE kits.

The positive news was that despite Covid-19, startups with at least one woman founder were able to secure 71 funding deals in H1 2020, at par with H1 2019 (70 deals) and H1 2018 (70 deals).

The study highlighted an interesting trend that between 1990 and 2010, only 26 startups had at least one woman founder. However, 75 startups added at least one woman founder by 2014 and 184 more by 2019. Female-founded and co-founded tech startups in India currently stand at 285.

 

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Startup

Reopened Your Hotel or Homestay Yet? Now Is the Time As Hotel Occupancy in India Improves in September

Hotels and Homestay (Photo Credits: Pexels)

New Delhi, October 29: If you are thinking of the right time to repoen your holiday home or hotel, this is it! Ever since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, the hospitality segment was brought to a grinding halt by the pandemic. The sector is slowly limping back to normalcy and is seeing an improvement in demand as hotel occupancy in the country improved in the last two months. According to a report by HVS India and Anarock, the hotel occupancy improved 10-12 percent in September 2020 compared to that in August 2020.

The ‘HVS-ANAROCK Hotels & Hospitality Overview – October 2020’ showed that last month, average occupancy stood at 24-26 percent. “The hotel sector is showing early signs of recovery with occupancy improving M-o-M across most major markets driven by the gradual revival of domestic leisure travel in the country,” the report said.

According to the report, leisure destinations such as Goa and Jaipur have been witnessing a noticeable improvement in occupancy as people started travelling for a change of pace, albeit to destinations closer to their cities. It adds saying that with the growth in demand, the revenue per available room (RevPAR) also improved 12-14 percent to Rs 815-935. The average daily rate (ADR) of Indian hotels stood at Rs 3,400-3,600, 2-4 per cent higher on a month-on-month basis.

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Startup

Nazara Technologies, Gaming Startup Backed by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Plans to Launch IPO Soon

Nazara Technologies
Nazara Technologies (Photo Credits: Company Logo)

Mumbai, October 29: Nazara Technologies, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed startup is planning to soon launch its IPO. The Mumbai-based mobile gaming company informed its shareholders about its plan to go public in a letter earlier this month.

According to an ET report, the company will soon file the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator Sebi. The issue size is yet to be decided, however, some traders estimate the IPO price to be around Rs 950.

The report further mentions that shares of Nazara Technologies have almost doubled in the last six months in the unlisted market. The unlisted shares traded at around Rs 750-800 this week as against their April price of Rs 400-450.

Earlier this year, Nazara Technologies announced that it has completed its majority stake acquisition of Paper Boat Apps. Nazara acquired 51 percent of Paper Boat Apps, issuing shares worth Rs 43 crore as a part of its final tranche of the acquisition.

Nazara is a free-to-play kids games publisher with 20 million monthly active children playing, and over 180 million downloads on Google Play and App store. Nazara’s network comprises of World Cricket Championship, Halaplay, and Nodwin Gaming.