Category: MSME

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E-Commerce MSME Startup Strategy

Amazon India Helps Women Entrepreneurs, Artisans and Weavers to Double Their Sales in 10 Weeks Under ‘Stand for Handmade’ Initiative

Amazon India. (Photo Credit: Image grab)
Amazon India. (Photo Credit: Image grab)

Bengaluru, September 23: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon India came up with ‘Stand for Handmade’ initiative, to help over 10 lakh artisans and weavers and women entrepreneurs. On Monday, the e-commerce portal stated that customers from more than 12,000 pincodes in India purchased a product from the ‘Stand for Handmade’ store front. Due to this, artisans, weavers and women entrepreneurs were helped to double their sales in the 10-week period.

Amazon further added that the ‘Stand for Handmade’ initiative enabled sellers from Amazon Karigar — for weavers and artisans and Amazon Saheli — for women entrepreneurs — to register 3.2 times and 2.1 times growth. Adding more, it said that 32 sellers crossed Rs 1 lakh in sales during the 10-week period while two sellers crossed Rs 1 crore in sales.

Issuing a statement, Director of MSME and Seller Experience at Amazon India — Pranav Bhasin — said, “We are humbled by the response to this initiative as customers from more than 12,000 pincodes purchased a product from the specially-curated store front. With the festive season coming up, we remain focused on helping our sellers further accelerate and grow their business.”

Bhasin added that more than 200 new sellers joined the Karigar programme and benefited from 100 per cent SoA (sell on Amazon) fee waiver. Categories which witnessed the highest overall sales included apparel, grocery and home decor. Also, 508 Sambalpuri weaver families from Orissa were able to seller sarees than could span over 17,738 yards while more than 4,500 Pochampally weavers from 56 villages of Telangana have recovered and were able to resume their handloom weaving business.

Amazon said, “More than 5,200 weavers from Bengal are now back to weaving exquisite weaves on their looms and the lives of 200 Banarasi weavers were positively impacted through sales of handloom Dupattas and Sarees.” It added that more than 8 lakh artisans and weavers from Amazon Karigar program and more than 2.8 lakh women entrepreneurs from Amazon Saheli program benefited from a 100 per cent SoA fee waiver for 10 weeks.

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MSME Startup

NTPC Power Plants to Offer Lands for Industrial Parks of MSMEs Under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ Initiative

NTPC power plant. (Photo Credit: Facebook)
NTPC power plant. (Photo Credit: Facebook)

New Delhi, September 22: With an aim to boost to the government’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives, National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has thrown open a vast land bank within its power plants to Indian firms willing to set up industrial parks and manufacturing facilities.

The country’s largest power producer has also invited expression of interest (EoI) from companies and MSMEs for setting up energy-intensive manufacturing plants. The plants for which the EoI has been issued include bulk chemicals, geopolymer, cooling & heating solutions, aluminium, mineral processing (ceramics, tiles, pottery, brick, glass etc), metallurgical and metal industries (foundries, forging, alloys, heat treatment, steel rerolling, etc).

The NTPC in its statement had stated that the pilots would be set up in the NTPC Thermal Power plants at Solapur (Maharashtra), Kudgi (Karnataka) and Gadarwara (Madhya Pradesh). Adding more, the company statement said, “These industrial parks will be subjected to requisite approvals from respective state and central government. NTPC will process these approvals based on responses received in the EoI.”

Apart from this, NTPC’s power plants across the country have evolved into economic centres with robust infrastructure system in place. With this, NOTC is exploring ideas to improve utilisation of land within its plant locations for enhancing economic activity.

NTPC, though it initiatives, will also provide reliable electricity supply at competitive prices to industrial parks. Along with this, adequate water supply, accessibility through road and rail network, robust connectivity with internet lease lines, accessibility to the township, medical facilities and the local market would also be provided to the SMEs. However, NTPC will enter into a separate agreement with prospective entities for allotment of spaces.

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MSME

Now MSMEs Can Get NOCs From Single Window & Electric Connection Upto 20 KW in 3 Days of Filing the Application in Yogi Aditynath’s Uttar Pradesh Govt

MSME
MSME (Photo Credits: Wikipedia)

Lucknow, September 22: Yogi Adityanath’s government has introduced measures to provide relief to small business owners in the state, who will no longer be required to run from department to department to acquire a No Objection Certificate to start their venture.

Under the state’s new MSME (Establishment and Operations) Act of 2020, MSMEs will get NOCs from a single window, and electricity connection of up to 20 KW within three days of filing the application. Till now, MSMEs would need to get 80 types of NOCs from 29 departments.

The new law was notified on Sunday, and it seeks to ease the process of opening up businesses in the state. According to the state government, there are a total of 90 lakh MSME units, registered and unregistered, in UP. Under the new law, the small business owners will just be required to approach the district-level nodal agency (DLNA), which will be established under the Act and have several state officials including the district magistrate (DM).

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E-Commerce Legal MSME

KVIC’s Legal Action Forces Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal to Remove 160 Fake Khadi Products Online

KVIC. (Photo Credit: Image grab)
KVIC. (Photo Credit: Image grab)

New Delhi, September 20: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission’s (KVIC) on Sunday informed that its firmness had forced e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and others to remove over 160 web links selling products in the brand name of ‘Khadi’. The new development comes days after KVIC served legal notices to over 1000 firms using the brand name ‘Khadi India’ to sell their products.

Issuing a statement, KVIC said, “These e-commerce portals were selling products like Khadi masks, herbals soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, herbal mehandi, jackets, kurta and many such products through different sellers using the brand name ‘Khadi’. This created a false impression among online buyers that these commodities were genuine ‘Khadi’ products. KVIC also stated that a majority of the products that have been removed were being sold by one Ayush E-Traders. This firm has confirmed to KVIC that it has removed 140 links for various products that were being sold as ‘Vagad’s Khadi Products’.”

Adding more, KVIC stated that there has been a steep rise in violation of Khadi trademark as the popularity of Khadi grew manifold in recent years. It added that a number of online sellers began selling random products in the name of Khadi. For the ease of online customers to buy genuine Khadi products, KVIC has launched it’s e-portal selling a range of 300 products online at www.kviconline.gov.in/khadimask.

KVIC recent action has resulted in shutting down a number of stores across the country that were selling fake Khadi products. KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said, “Legal notices have been issued to various firms essentially to safeguard the interest of Khadi artisans. This trademark violation has a direct bearing on the livelihood of our artisans who are making genuine handcrafted products.”

Earlier in August, KVIC had issued legal notices to two firms Khadi Essentials and Khadi Global for unauthorizedly selling cosmetics and other products in the name of Khadi. The KVIC had also sought damages to the tune of Rs 500 crore from Fabindia which is pending before the Bombay High Court.

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MSME

Narendra Modi Birthday 2020: Khadi and Village Industries Commission Creates 1500 Employment in 10 Cities on ‘Sewa Diwas’ to Celebrate PM’s Special Day

SFURTI Cluster of 500 artisans for making hand-knotted carpets in Prayagraj (Image Credit: PIB)
SFURTI Cluster of 500 artisans for making hand-knotted carpets in Prayagraj (Image Credit: PIB)

New Delhi, September 18: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on Thursday extended the benefits of various employment generation schemes to nearly 1500 persons in 10 Indian cities to celebrate ‘Sewa Diwas’. The benefits were extended to mark the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The KVIC organised 14 programs to expand the ambit of its welfare projects to create local employment. The KVIC also distributed 6 innovative cycle-mounted tea/coffee selling units under project DigniTEA in New Delhi. The cycle-mounted tea/coffee selling units were distributed to unemployed local youths with an aim to enable the tea-sellers to earn a respectable livelihood.

Apart from this, Union Minister of State for MSME Pratap Chandra Sarangi inaugurated an SFURTI cluster of 500 artisans for making hand-knotted carpets in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Among other programmes, KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena launched six different programs in Varanasi that include the first Footwear Training cum Production Center in Varanasi for leather artisans (Mochi) in collaboration with Central Footwear Training Institute (CFTI).

He also distributed electric potter wheels to 300 Kumhar families under Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana and 200 bee boxes to 20 farmers families under Honey Mission. The KVIC chairman also distributed 6 hand-operated Agarbatti making machines at Sewapuri Block in Varanasi under the Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission.

KVIC chairman said sustainable development though local employment generation has been the key focus of KVIC which is aligned with the Prime Minister’s commitment of ‘Job to Every Hand’ (Har Hath Me Kaam). “It is the inspiration and appeal of the Hon’ble Prime Minister that has taken Khadi to a new height. We are hopeful that he will continue to lead Khadi as its biggest brand ambassador,” Saxena said.

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MSME

MSME Revival: Nitin Gadkari Lists Steps Taken to Re-Boost Sector Hit by COVID-19 Pandemic

Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari. (Photo Credit: PIB)
Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari. (Photo Credit: PIB)

New Delhi, September 17: With the country’s micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector badly affected due to COVID-19 pandemic, Union Minister of MSME Nitin Gadkari stated that the government had implemented various schemes and programmes for growth and development of the sector under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

Among the major schemes to revive the ailing MSME sector include Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), A Scheme for Promoting Innovation, Rural Industry & Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE), Interest Subvention Scheme for Incremental Credit to MSMEs, Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, Micro and Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP), Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Upgradation Scheme (CLCS-TUS).

Under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Union Ministry had made arrangements for:

a) Rs 20,000 crore Subordinate Debt for MSMEs.

b) Rs 3 lakh crores Collateral free Automatic Loans for business, including MSMEs.

c) Rs. 50,000 crore equity infusion through MSME Fund of Funds.

d) Newly revised criteria for the classification of MSMEs.

e) New Registration of MSMEs through ‘Udyam Registration’ for Ease of Doing Business.

e) No global tenders for procurement up to Rs. 200 crores, this will help MSME.

Apart from this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched an online Portal ‘Champions’ on June 1, 2020, aiming to cover aspects of e-governance including grievance redressal and handholding of MSMEs. Through the portal, total 18,723 grievances have been redressed up to September 9, 2020, said Gadkari in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

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MSME Startup

Comprehensive Space Act to Help Start-Ups to Make Rockets, Launch Vehicles For ISRO Soon, Says K Sivan

ISRO's rocket launch. (Photo Credit: Facebook/ISRO)
ISRO's rocket launch. (Photo Credit: Facebook/ISRO)

Chennai, September 16: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman and Department of Space (DoS) Secretary K Sivan on Tuesday said that the Union government will come out with a policy for launch vehicles and rockets, space exploration and a comprehensive Space Act. The new policy will help several space sector start-ups that are coming up in the country for making rockets, satellites and others.

Speaking at the international space conference and exhibition titled ‘Ushering the new era in Indian Space Sector’, Sivan said that the insurance sector can also get into this important field once the policies and law are in place.

Sivan also said that a comprehensive Space Act and various policies are in the pipeline while he was elaborating on the legal and policy framework that is being planned with the government to open up the space sector for private players. However, the ISRO chief said the government will govern the space activities through policies for every line of activity and the Space Act. With this, the insurance sector can get a way out in the space sector.

Stressing on plans to encourage start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the space sector, Sivan said the DoS through the Space Enterprise Encouragement and Development (SEED) scheme will support them to take up innovation, research and product development and services for ISRO.

The exhibition was organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with ISRO, Antrix Corporation Limited and was supported by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).

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Finance MSME

Indian Banks Have Sanctioned Rs 1.63 Lakh Crore Loans to MSMEs Under ECLGS, Says Finance Ministry

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. (Photo Credit: PIB)
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. (Photo Credit: PIB)

New Delhi, September 13: The Union Finance Ministry on Sunday said that Indian banks have sanctioned loans worth over Rs 1.63 lakh crore to MSMEs and other eligible businesses so far. These loans have been sanctioned under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for over 42 lakh borrowers and till now over Rs 1.18 lakh crore has been disbursed, the Ministry added.

Informing about the sanctioned status, the Union Finance Ministry took said in a statement, “As on 10.09.2020, as reported by Public Sector Banks and top 23 private sector banks, additional credit amounting to Rs 1,63,226.49 crore has been sanctioned to 42,01,576 borrowers. Amount of Rs 1,18,138.64 crore has been disbursed to 25,01,999 borrowers as on 10.09.2020.”

Laying down the progress of the schemes announced under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat economic package in May, the Union Ministry said that around 37 proposals involving an amount of Rs 10,590 crore have been approved under the Rs 30,000 crore Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs, housing finance companies and micro-finance institutions till September 11. Adding more, it said, six more applications seeking financing of Rs 783.5 crore are under process.

On the Rs 30,000 crore Additional Emergency Working Capital Funding for farmers through NABARD, the ministry said that as on August 28, 2020, Rs 25,000 crore has been disbursed. The balance amount of Rs 5,000 crore under the Special Liquidity Facility (SLF) has been allocated to NABARD by the RBI for smaller NBFCs and NBFC-MFIs. Also, ANABARD is finalising operational guidelines to roll it out soon.

Apart from this, the Centre said that NABARD has also launched Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee scheme in collaboration with two agencies and banks to help unrated NBFCs and MFIs to get credit from lenders. The mechanism will enhance eligibility of credit by 5-6 times to those small MFIs who do not have any rating.

Among other details, the ministry said that refunds of over Rs 1.01 lakh crore have been issued to more than 27.55 lakh taxpayers between April 1, 2020, and September 8, 2020. Also, income tax refunds of Rs 30,768 crore have been issued in 25,83,507 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 70,540 crore have been issued in 1,71,155 cases. The ministry said that all corporate tax refunds up to Rs 50 crore have been issued in all cases.

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MSME Technology

IIT Madras Develops Alternatives to Conventional Lithium-Ion Batteries, Institute Claims it Will Help Domestic MSME Sector

IIT Madras. (Photo Credit: Facebook)
IIT Madras. (Photo Credit: Facebook)

Chennai, September 10: The researchers of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) have made significant advances in developing alternatives to conventional lead-acid and lithium-ion for industrial usage. As India is aiming to achieve 40 per cent of its total electricity generation from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, such news is crucial.

Informing about the latest development, Department of Chemical Engineering of IIT Madras’s Prof Sreenivas Jayanti said, “Our team designed, fabricated and executed indigenous kW-scale vanadium redox flow battery for application in energy storage, which can be integrated into renewable sources such as solar and wind energy.”

Adding more, Jayanti said, “We have developed operating protocols and design criteria for flow battery stack of power rating up to 10 kW using the prototype of a practical size that can be directly employed in industrial-scale stacks for grid-level storage.”

IIT Madras researchers claim that the study into vanadium redox flow battery stack development will open up new possibilities for the indigenous fabrication of flow battery stacks by MSME units for domestic applications. The researchers also stated that the energy can be stored indefinitely as the active species are in a liquid state and stored outside the battery.

Study researcher Ravendra Gundlapalli said, “‘Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries’ (VRFB), with their distinct features of independent scale-up of power and energy, long cycling life, low Levelized cost of energy storage and milli-seconds response time, shows great scope in confronting with intermittency in renewable energy sources and load demand.”

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E-Commerce Finance MSME

Khadi’s E-Market Portal Empowers Local Artisans Through ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ Initiative, Sells Their Products to Remotest Parts of India

Khadi's E-Market Portal
Khadi's E-Market Portal.

New Delhi, September 9: With just two months of launching the KVIC E-Portal, Khadi and Village Industry Commission’s (KVIC) venture into the online marketing segment has quickly established a pan-India reach. The portal — www.kviconline.gov.in/khadimask/ — has enabled the artisans to sell their products to the remotest parts of India. Currently, the KVIC E-Portal sells over 180 products and many more are in the pipeline.

Aiming to appeal Indians go ‘Vocal for Local’, KVIC has a list of products range including hand-spun and hand-woven fine fabric like Muslin, Silk, Denim and Cotton, Unisex Vichar Vastra by Ritu Beri, Khadi’s Signature Wrist Watch, a variety of honey, Herbal and Green Tea, Herbal Medicines and Soaps, Papad, Kacchi Ghani Mustard Oil and a range of herbal cosmetics among many others.

Apart from this, KVIC is adding at least 10 new products to its online inventory on a daily basis, setting its target to add at least 1000 products by October 2, 2020. Union government stated that KVIC had served nearly 4000 customers in just two months. The product range is priced from Rs 50 to Rs 5000, keeping in view the choice and affordability of all sections of buyers.

Elaborating the aim of KVIC’s E-Portal, its chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the online sale of Khadi products is a big push to ‘Swadeshi’ and aims at empowering the local artisans. He added, “Khadi’s E-market portal is providing our artisans with an additional platform to sell their goods. This is a concrete step towards the building of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

Adding more, he said, “Earlier products of Khadi institutions were sold only through outlets and hence their visibility was confined to a few states only. However, with KVIC’s E-portal, products are now reaching to the far-flung areas of the country and thus giving wider marketing spectrum to Khadi institutions which will ultimately increase their production and add to the income of artisans.”

The government claims that KVIC has received online orders from 31 States and Union Territories that include the far-flung Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. For the ease of customers, KVIC has fixed the minimum order value at Rs 599 for free delivery of goods. It has also entered into an agreement with the Postal Department for delivery of consignments via Speed Post.

Among the variety of products that KVIC sells also includes Modi Kurta and Modi Jackets for men and palazzo and straight trousers for women. Other products like — Khadi Rumal, spices, herbal neem wood comb, shampoo, cosmetics, cow dung and cow urine soap, yoga dress and several varieties of ready-to-eat food — have been included so far.