Tag: Business

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Business motivation

Ease of Doing Business 2019 Ranking: Andhra Pradesh Ranks First in Implementing Business Reforms Followed by UP and Telangana; Check List of Top 10 States

Ease of Doing Business (Photo Credits: Pexels)

Andhra Pradesh has again topped the list in the ranking of states and union territories (UTs) based on implementation of the business reform action plan. According to a report released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, Andhra Pradesh tops the list, while Uttar Pradesh and Telangana were placed at the second and third place, respectively in the ease of doing business for 2019. The list has been prepared by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The ranking makes states and UTs a better place to do business. Accordin to a government release, the parameters include areas such as construction permit, labour regulation, environmental registration, access to information, land availability and single-window system. It is the DPIIT that conducts the exercise for all states/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). In the 2019 ranking which was released in July 2018, Andhra Pradesh had topped the chart, followed by Telangana and Haryana.

Ranking of States based on the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan started in the year 2015. Till date, State Rankings have been released for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017-18. The Business Reform Action Plan 2018-19 included 180 reform points covering 12 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, etc.

The top ten states under State Reform Action Plan 2019 are:

  1. Andhra Pradesh
  2. Uttar Pradesh
  3. Telangana
  4. Madhya Pradesh
  5. Jharkhand
  6. Chhattisgarh
  7. Himachal Pradesh
  8. Rajasthan
  9. West Bengal
  10. Gujarat

The larger objective of attracting investments and increasing Ease of Doing Business in each State was sought to be achieved by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of ranking states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan.

The ranking this time gives full weightage to the feedback from over thirty thousand respondents at the ground level, who gave their opinion about the effectiveness of the reforms.State rankings will help attract investments, foster healthy competition and increase Ease of Doing Business in each State.

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Finance

Amazon to Invest $18 Billion This Year to Help SMBs in US to Scale Their Operations and Grow

Amazon (Photo Credits: Amazon, Facebook Page)

Seattle, September 2: E-commerce giant Amazon on Wednesday announced that it will invest $18 billion this year to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) scale their operations and grow. The firm stated that in the next 12 months, it will provide more than 5,00,000 SMBs in the US currently selling on Amazon, with online selling guidance, education, and support. Moreover, the company plans to onboard an additional 1,00,000 US businesses as new sellers in its store. Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer at Amazon, said that at Amazon, the mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, and part of fulfilling that mission is connecting small businesses with customers.

Wilke made the statement during Amazon Accelerate, a three-day virtual summit for SMBs in the US that was kicked-off on Tuesday. Wilke further said that Amazon’s success is directly tied to the success of independent businesses across the US. “We are passionate about supporting small businesses, investing and inventing on their behalf to help them be resilient through COVID-19 and beyond,” Wilke added.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 has had on small businesses, many American SMBs selling through Amazon have experienced continued growth. The e-commerce behemoth has launched more than 135 new tools and services this year to help sellers manage and grow their businesses, including new ways to connect brands with customers.

According to a report by IANS, the company said it will spend an additional $100 million this year to promote small businesses during Prime Day and through the holiday season. Last year during Prime Day, third-party sellers – mostly SMBs – exceeded $2 billion in global sales. The report added that the third-party sellers continue to account for more than half of all units sold in Amazon’s store, and even during the pandemic, third-party sales continued to grow faster than Amazon’s first-party sales.

 

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Business motivation Strategy

Women Entrepreneurship, Women-Backed SMEs Can Help in Accelerating GDP Growth in India, Says Study

Women Entrepreneurship (Photo Credits: Pexels)

A recent study has revealed that if women entrepreneurship in India is given a push, it can accelerate the GDP growth in the country. As the country is focused on becoming self-reliance and achieving a $5 trillion economy, a report has suggested that a major emphasis on women entrepreneurship and women-backed small business can create a ripple effect in India’s GDP.

According to a joint study by Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Sattva, women-owned enterprises represent only 20 percent of all enterprises across the country. These enterprises hire 10 percent of the total workforce. The study revealed that women entrepreneurship presents a significant opportunity to strengthen employment and can create a ripple effect on India’s GDP; but the growth of women-owned businesses needs a greater push.

The study, which is centered around Bengaluru, points that there is an urgent need to increase sales and marketing channels and make women finance ready so that they can access capital for their businesses. “While women entrepreneurs in the region face formidable challenges, the combination of new market platforms, peer-support networks, and capital will make women entrepreneurs a force to reckon with before the end of the decade”, the study said.

According to the survey, quoted by IANS, a total of 53 percent of the participants had their monthly household income below Rs 50,000 while 84 percent women entrepreneurs use personal savings for capital needs and also tend to rely on friends and family. Meanwhile, around 97 percent of the women entrepreneurs hired less than five paid employees or workers. The study reveals that 67 percent entrepreneurs had been running their businesses for under five years and for all entrepreneurs, COVID-19 has reduced their revenues by 60-80 percent.

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Finance Startup

Why Do Investors Invest in Startups? Here’s How Investors Add Value to Startups and Help Entrepreneurs

Startups and Investors (Photo Credits: Pexels)

For any business to flourish, there needs to be good investment and planning that will help the firm reach its target audience and go beyond! Here’s where the role of an investor comes into picture. An investor puts capital to use for long-term gains, while an entrepreneur seeks to generate profits by using those funds. Thus an investor is a crucial aspect for any startup, who typically generates returns by deploying capital. Investing in startups is a risky proposition. However, the low requirement for overhead capital along with high upside potential, makes it lucrative for the investors to put their bets on startups.

Basically, an investor is a person that allocates capital with the expectation of a future financial return or to gain an advantage. An investor can choose to invest in-equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, token, derivatives such as put and call options, futures, etc.

According to the official website of Startup India- startupindia.gov.in, investors particularly venture capitalists (VCs) add value to startups in a lot of ways. Some of them are listed below:

  1. Stakeholder Management: The investors are the ones who manage the company board and leadership to facilitate smooth operations of the startup. Moreover, their functional experience and domain knowledge of working and investing with startups imparts vision and direction to the company.
  2. Raise Funds: Investors are best guides for the startup as they help to raise subsequent rounds of funding on the basis of stage, maturity, sector focus etc. The investors aid in networking and connection for the founders to pitch their business to other investors.
  3. Recruiting The Best to Achieve Business Goals: Finding great talent and best-fit human capital is critical for startups, especially when it comes to recruiting senior executives to manage and drive business goals. The venture capitalists, with their extensive network can help bridge the talent gap by recruiting the right set of people at the right time.
  4. Proper Marketing of the product: The venture capitalists (VCs) assist with marketing strategy for your product/service.
  5. Merger and Acquisition (M&A) Activity: VCs have their eyes and ears open to merger and acquisition opportunities in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem to enable greater value addition to the business through inorganic growth.
  6. Organizational Restructuring:As a young startup grows to an established company, they help with the right organizational structuring and introduce processes to increase capital efficiency, lower costs and scale efficiently.
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Finance

Delayed GST Payment: Govt Changes Interest Liability Rules, Interest to Be Charged on Net Tax Liability From September 1, 2020

GST Payment (Photo Credits: Unsplash)

New Delhi, August 26: The government on Wednesday changed the interest liability rules and said that the interest on delayed payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be charged on net tax liability with effect from September 1. Reports inform that the industry had earlier this year raised concern over the directive of recovery of about Rs 46,000 crore of unpaid interest on delayed GST payment. The interest was charged on gross tax liability.

It was in March that the GST Council, which comprises of centre and state finance ministers, had decided in its 39th meeting that interest for delay in payment of GST to be charged on net tax liability with effect from July 1, 2017, and law would be amended retrospectively. However, on August 25, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified September 1, 2020, as the date from which interest would be charged on net tax liability.

Earlier, the CBIC had said that GST law permits interest calculation on delayed GST payment on the basis of gross tax liability. This position has been upheld in the Telangana High Court’s decision dated April 18, 2019. It must be noted that the net GST liability is arrived at after deducting input tax credit from gross GST liability. Therefore, calculating interest on gross GST liability increases the payout burden on businesses.

According to AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan, this notification seems to be in disconnect with decisions of GST Council wherein it was assured to the taxpayers that the said benefit would be available retrospectively from July 1, 2017. “Prospective availability of this benefit would mean that millions of taxpayers may be looking at demand of interest for over 3 years from the date of GST implementation. Businesses are expected to approach the High Courts again on this unjustified and illegal demand of interest basis the ”principle of estoppel”, Mohan said.

Businesses, which are other than those under the composition scheme and quarterly return filers, registered under goods and services tax (GST) have to file returns (GSTR-1). They have to show tax liability by 11th of following month and pay taxes by filing GSTR-3B between 20-24 (due date varies according to the state in which businesses are registered). There have been cases where GST assessees have paid taxes after due date but did not pay the interest due on account of delayed payment.

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Technology

Aadhaar Authentication to Help Businesses Get GST Registration Within 3 Days

Aadhaar For All (Photo Credits: Facebook)

In what is believed to be a major boost for businesses in India, the businesses that provide Aadhaar number while applying for registration under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will get the approval in three working days. Last week, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had notified Aadhaar authentication for GST registration with effect from August 21, 2020. The notification also provides that in case businesses do not provide Aadhaar number, then GST registration would be granted only after physical verification of the place of business.

Sources believe that the Aadhaar authentication is expected to facilitate genuine and honest taxpayers while at the same time keeping fake and fraudulent entities away from GST.

Two important things to know:

  1. For a person opting for Aadhaar authentication for new GST registration would get it within just three working days, if no notice is issued and would not need to wait for physical verification.
  2. While applicants not opting for Aadhaar authentication for GST registration would be granted it only after physical verification of the place of business or documentary verification which may take up to 21 working days or more if notice is issued, sources said.

According to a report by PTI, sources of the Finance Ministry said the GST Council in its 39th meeting held on March 14, 2020, had approved operationalisation of Aadhaar authentication for new taxpayers. However, its implementation was postponed due to the lockdown on account of COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources further said that keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in view, it has been provided that the officer may, if the circumstances warrant, opt for asking for additional documents in lieu of the pre-registration for physical verification of the premises.

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Business motivation

Start Business from Home With These Essential Steps

बिजनेस
बिजनेस

When time is harder, you get toughest. Amid this pandemic, when you think everything is difficult to catch up with, you need to find a solution. The pandemic has forced lots of small businesses to shut down and as per The Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), at least 5 million salaried people lost jobs in India in July 2020. The situation is grim, but at the same time, presents an opportunity for people to look at becoming entrepreneurs from home.

We bring you some ideas or ways for starting a business, being at home when everything is closed. Big businesses were not born overnight. Someone had an idea, concept, and worked on it. Here are some steps you need to keep in mind when planning to Start Business at Home –

  1. Assess Your Business Idea
    Start brainstorming your ideas or anything you believe you can be work on being at home only. One requires to have an idea before beginning anything. With various business options possible, you need to focus on one, which matches your skill.
  2. Consider Your Skills With Training
    Nobody is born without skill or talent. So pick something that you think you have an expertise in and start with what you have proper knowledge of. You can try some specialized courses also if need be. Additional skills will always help you improve your business.
  3. Write Down Your Project Report
    Your project report will define how well you have done your homework. The more uniqueness you offer, the faster you will be on the path of success. Study the markets well, be it domestic or international market, as per your business idea. Write down your report based on research, which may include a revenue model with cost and sales price, taxes, delivery charges, etc.
  4. Source of Funding
    The funds play a major role in any business, but small businesses or start-ups are either self-financed or acquired from friends and family. Therefore, you need to be careful with your finances as you need to keep your business running until you start earning profit. With this, you should have one backup for the funding source if something goes wrong.
  5. Fix Your Work Location
    As a small business, you need to own a small workplace, small shop, or an office. This is an essential aspect of your business because you require to register your business as you will receive a permit from the registration office for running your business, and this permission will help you get power and water permits.
  6. Registering Your Business
    Thanks to new direct instructions given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, you only need one working day for registering your business. Now the option of registering is available online and every necessary information is on the website.
  7. Launch a website
    In today’s time, owning a website plays a major part in any business for providing information on the products and business. It is a significant step for building a business and building trust among your target audience. There’re many websites that guide you and help you build your website.

These are seven simple yet essential steps to keep in mind for starting a small business while being home during these tough times.