Textiles, leather subsidy issue will be taken up shortly

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Thursday said he would take up the issue of continuation of subsidised export credit for export oriented sectors like leather, textiles and engineering goods with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee shortly.

Despite being plagued with problems like non-availability of credit, collateral requirement for sanction of loans, difficulties in bulk procurement of raw-materials, problem of storage and design, infrastructural inadequecies, non-availability of manpower and technology, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can be instrumental in attaining growth with equity.

During an informal interaction with the media on the outcome of the General Budget 2010-11, Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, has stated that the support and incentives for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will continue without any dilution. Earlier, SEZ unit holders and developers had raised concerns regarding continuation of tax benefits like income tax holiday after the Direct Tax Code comes into effect, replacing the existing Income Tax Act..

State Bank to acheive 35% growth in financing MSMEs in Bengal

State Bank of India’s (SBI) Bengal circle is hopeful of achieving 35% growth in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) segment in 2009-2010 with a target to finance Rs 2,000 crore to the micro small medium enterprises (MSME) this year. Suriendar Kumar, chief general manager, Bengal circle said that SBI was already near to its fulfilling its target for the year. .

The board of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has sanctioned a loan of $300 million (around Rs 1,380 crore) to develop and expand India’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the second largest source of employment in the country after agriculture.

“At a time when banks all around the world are moving towards their basic function of lending and taking deposits, there’s pressure on Indian banks to enter bond markets and money markets,” Reddy said. “Banks need to get their priorities right.” He was addressing students and media personnel at a session on ‘Challenges facing Indian Business’ at the University of Hyderabad.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are expected to loosen restricted information technology (IT) budgets, take to social networking, increase adoption of “software as a service” (SaaS) and mobile applications, as lessons learnt after the recession.

Budget could push R&D spend by 25-50%: pharma players

The R&D spend of drug companies could increase to the tune of 25 to 50 per cent thanks to the Budget push, feel Gujarat based pharma majors. This year's Union Budget has increased the weighted deduction for research and development (R&D) expenditure to 200 per cent from 150 per cent, thereby enabling an improved cash flow by reducing the tax burden.

HP Introduces Technology Solutions For Retail Sector, SMBs

Global IT major Hewlett Packard has rolled out technology solutions for the retail segment and SMEs, designed to slash costs and augment customer experience. The retail technologies launched here include touch-enabled personal computers, point-of-sale systems, and LCD digital signages with an interactive display.

Thanks to the continued demand revival in major markets such as the US and European Union, exports remained in the positive territory for the third consecutive month with shipments in January growing by 11.5 per cent to $14.34 billion from $12.9 billion during January 2009.

It is shocking to read that only apparently 32 per cent of Indians profess to know something about climate change, says Ansgar Sickert, Managing Director of Fraport India and Council Member of the European Business Group (EBG) in India. Contrast this with ‘75 per cent in Brazil, 59 per cent in China, and 94 per cent in the US,’ he adds, during a recent pre-Budget email interaction withBusiness Line.