Categories
Startup

Startup Ranking 2019: Gujarat, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Emerge As Best Performers in Implementing Policies to Uplift Startup Ecosystem

Gujarat has been named as the best performing state by the government in terms of implementing policies for uplifting the startup ecosystem.  While Gujarat was the best performing state, Andaman & Nicobar Islands was adjudged as the best performer amongst Union Territory and North Eastern states. On Friday, the ‘Startup Ranking’ framework 2019 judged states and Union Territories on seven broad reform area, consisting of 30 action points.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that to establish uniformity and ensure standardisation in the ranking process, ‘States and UTs’ have been divided into two groups. “While UTs except Delhi and all States in North East India except Assam are placed in Category ‘Y’. All other States and UT of Delhi are in Category ‘X’”, the statement read.

While releasing the result of the second edition of ‘Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems’ through a virtual felicitation ceremony, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called upon the high networth individuals, venture capitalists to finance ‘Startups’. During his address, Goyal said that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be seen as a problem or challenge but as an opportunity to reimagine and reinvigorate India. The Minister recommended that ‘Startups’ should come up with imaginative, relevant and innovative products, undertake reengineering and reform of processes, and orient their ideas to be people-centric.

 

Categories
Finance Startup

iStandup 2.0: ICICI Bank Launches Dedicated Offering for StartUps in India, Offers Current Account in 3 Variants

Mumbai, September 12: India’s second-largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Thursday launched a news offering — iStandup 2.0. With this new offering, ICICI is aiming to catch hold on the growing number of startups in the country. Though the new improved features, its customers will get a current account in three variants, offering additional features.

Under the iStandup 2.O, the ICICI bank offers premium savings accounts for the promoters, salary accounts for employees and a dedicated relationship manager. For its effective reach, ICICI has tied up with vendors to offer a ‘concierge-like’ service. This will enable the startups to access various services like company registration, taxation, compliance, logistics, facility management, staffing and digital marketing.

On the issue, the charges of the account, ICICI bank’s Head of Self-Employment Segment Pankaj Gadgil said that the bank will waive average quarterly balance requirement on the current account for a year. Adding more, he said that around 20,000 startups were registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in July 2020, which went up in August 2020. Since the trends are encouraging, the bank launched the new offering.

As per details, all the startups — up to 10 years old — including partnerships, private and public limited as well as limited liability partnerships, will be able to opt for current account. It is to be known that ICICI bank already serves an undisclosed number of startups as part of earlier offering and other offerings that also include a current account.

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Startup

Starting Up a Business: 5 Things Young Entrepreneurs Should Know to Make Their Business a Success

It might seem hard to start to a business, but when the entrepreneurial project gets going, the brain behind it rejoices. However, in order to make your business a success, there are several things that you need to consider before you start your business. Young entrepreneur venturing into a new business, keep looking for ways and means to help them achieve their goals. Young entrepreneurs are at an age where they need a platform to prove their caliber. They want to run something of their own, create more job opportunities and be a part of the growing India.

Here Are 5 Things That Young Entrepreneurs Ought to Keep in Mind:

  1. Know your product: The first important thing before starting any business is that the entrepreneur should know in and out about his product. He should first, himself, know what is product is all about, how well he can pitch about it in the market, what is the demand of the product, and so many other related questions. A young individual will always know what is in trend and things that work in a market.
  2. Know your market: Understand who your target audience is! Before starting up a business, a young entrepreneur should very well understand what the need of the hour. Of course, there are other competitors in the market, so a beginner should consider all the risk factors before venturing into something new.
  3. Do what you love: Take your time and understand what you love. Let your passion be the driver for your product or service, which will always keep you motivated and get you going through the tough times. Before starting up a business, one should think with a calm mind as to what one loves because when you work on something that you actually care and love, you’ll probably be happy and make the idea a reality.
  4. Find a mentor: No matter how intelligent you are, you may falter! Hence, it becomes really important to find a mentor who can guide you and let you know when you go wrong. Find someone who can open your mind and share your ideas with. Surely, your ideas will be shaped in a better manner which will be easier for execution.
  5. Perseverance and Patience: The most important trait of any businessman is perseverance and patience. These 2 Ps go hand-in-hand and help people to get better and win laurels in their work. Once you have thought about an idea, don’t give up and work on it until you make it a success. For young entrepreneur, it is an added advantage that they have time, even if Plan A doesn’t work, then be ready with Plan B. There might be rough moments in your entrepreneurial journey but you have to keep working towards your goal.
Categories
Motivational Startup

Startup World Excitement Returns Amid COVID-19 Pandemic as Venture Capitalists Show Faith And Deal Discussions Heat Up

Mumbai, September 11: Coronavirus pandemic had badly affected businesses all over. Over the last few months, we saw numerous job losses, businesses being shut amid the lockdown. However, with the relaxation in the lockdown norms, the situation is improving. According to reports, venture capitalists are slowly returning to the startup world.

According to the Moneycontrol report, investors have started writing cheques, making big bets, something that was expected would take longer. Some names include Dailyhunt, ShareChat, skincare brand WOW Skin Sciences, and meat delivery startup Licious deal discussions have heated up.

Last month, fantasy gaming startup Dream11 emerged as the title sponsor of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).  The Indian unicorn replaced Chinese handset company Vivo, which opted out of sponsorship this year amid India-China border standoff. Infact, the company is counting on a bumper IPL for business recovery.

Infact during the lockdown as well, in March and April, online education, healthcare and gaming startups were the direct beneficiaries.

This surely comes as good news because when the pandemic hit India, investors hit the panic button and made their exits from the already finalised deals, postponed their fundraising plans and went aggressive on cost-cutting measures.

Categories
MSME Technology

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

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.”

Categories
Startup Strategy

Happiest Minds Technologies IPO Receives Great Response After Going Public Amid COVID-19 Pandemic; Here Why Ashok Soota’s Second Startup Saw Huge Demand

Mumbai, September 10: The coronavirus pandemic has brought over a gloom to the Indian economy and Happiest Minds Technologies took the brave step of launching IPO amid the lockdown.

Ashok Soota was 68 when he started Happiest Minds. He had quit as the Chief Executive Officer of Mindtree — a company he co-founded and took public in 2000. In 2011, Soota left Mindtree and co-founded Happiest Minds.

Happiest Minds IPO was oversubscribed 150 times. According to experts, the Happiest Minds Technologies IPO was a good opportunity for an investor at a time when the entire IT space is witnessing a huge demand for a digital solution. The Rs 702 crore issue was subscribed 151 times, as per data available on NSE.

According to a Business Standard report, The impact of heavy subscription in Happiest Mind was also felt in the subscription data for another IPO that opened this week — Route Mobile. Ashok Soota, the promoter, wants to sell around 84.14 lakh shares. Also, there were reports that investor CMDB II, which owns 19.4 percent in Happiest Minds, is looking to exit after the IPO.

 

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Categories
Business motivation

Diwali 2020: 4 Seasonal Business Ideas To Light Up Your Festive Season

We are nearing the season of festivities and its reason enough to celebrate and be in the highest of the spirits! These festivities bring a smile on the face of every Indian but as well as provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to think of business ideas that not only help them display their skills but also help them get back on their feet. One such festival is Diwali that is next in line to be celebrated. There are tremendous seasonal business ideas that can be explored or discovered as it is undoubtedly one of the biggest festivals celebrated in our country. 

People from all social classes wait an entire year to make all of their special purchases, big or small, on this auspicious occasion. These purchases can vary from something as small as crackers to something as big as valuables like gold or silver. The idea of this article is to introduce you to 4 business ideas that can help you make good money this festive season.

Make Sweets, Spread Happiness

Festivals without sweets are like an empty box of candies–very disappointing. Sweets are integral and the most celebrated part of any and every festival in India. In these unprecedented times of social distancing, people are looking forward to exchanging boxes of sweets to celebrate the joyous occasion. If you trust your culinary skills and enjoy making lip-smacking colorful sweets, this is the business for you to get in!

Deck It Up With Decoratives

These are the times of COVID-19 and we, being the responsible citizens that we are, are fully aware of our responsibilities to maintain the social distance. However, this pandemic can not distance us anyhow from decking up our houses with beautiful lights, Diyas, candles, and various forms of decoratives. If the artisan in you is excited at the mere thought of starting this business, just imagine the amount of joy it’s going to bring into your life once you start doing it.

Make Rangoli With The Colours Of Joy

Celebrations feel incomplete without our very own Rangolis. A rangoli is mostly designed at the entrance of the house to welcome the visitors as well as the goddess Lakshmi herself. A rangoli not only makes our celebrations more colorful and auspicious but also is said to bring good luck. However, it is not possible for many to spare time to make these colorful patterns, hence they opt for a ready-made rangoli. If you are someone who has an eye for detail and a love for art, this could prove to be a great option for you to make the most of these seasonal festivities.

Those Dry Fruits Are Never Going Out Of Business

We have been exchanging sweets, gifts, and dry fruits every Diwali for ages now! This is the time to make the most of this tradition and get into the business of selling dry fruits. To make the boxes of dry fruits more presentable and visually appealing, you can try various different ways to pack them creatively. People these days are very much into making customized sweet as well as dry fruit boxes. You can unleash your creative side and make the packaging as aesthetically pleasing as possible so that it also qualifies as a gift to be exchanged on this joyous occasion.

These are just a few options picked from the pool of other viable options out there that can help you entrepreneurs set up a seasonal business of your own and network well to continue working on it the next season. These business opportunities are a wonderful way to make good money doing what you love doing the most. We hope this festive season brings you as much joy and positivity as you intend to spread in the lives of people you are going to touch with the amazing skills you possess.

 

Categories
Business motivation

4 Amazing Tips to Make Small Business Thrive

There are several prestigious business schools all over the world to provide you with the best of education and business tips on how to run a successful business. But, what if one is not financially sound to bear the hefty fees? As unfair as it may sound, many businesses around the world, big or small, have been thriving even without the owners having a degree from a credible B-school as well as the business management tips that always come in handy.

This success is only and only a result of the perfect business sense that a business owner possesses. However, when this amazing business sense is combined with some expert guidance, a business can truly unleash its maximum potential. Join us in our effort to share some very useful tips for small business owners that are worth paying attention to.

Focus On Your Goals And Be Specific With Them

First and foremost, We would always suggest all entrepreneurs set their goals. It is of extreme importance to do that as, without a goal, all your plans and executions will make no sense. Considering that A goal and a plan, go hand in hand, identify what you want to achieve with your dream venture. Once you have the bigger picture, these goals should be further simplified or broken down into short term goals/objectives. These short term goals should be quantifiable as they will help you assess the growth your business has made and how much is still left to do to achieve that final, much bigger objective.

Distribute Responsibilities

It is always a good practice to delegate. Although we have seen businesses being managed single-handedly before, the fact can not be denied that dividing tasks among the team members can improve the efficiency of a business by leaps and bounds. Avoiding redundancy in the roles and responsibilities of each member makes for better use of time, resources, and money, which are extremely crucial for small business owners.

Stick To What You Excel At

Many businesses have been met with failures and bankruptcy because they tried to do too much too soon. There is no denying the fact that being ambitious is a great thing to stay motivated, however, being over-ambitious has seldom proved to be fruitful for most of the businesses, especially small-scale businesses. It is highly advisable for small businesses to stick to their niche and make the most of it rather than trying your hand at every other opportunity.

Network On Social Media Platforms

With a huge chunk of the population now presents across all social media platforms, it would be a huge mistake not to build your own social media presence. Please understand the fact that a business is highly likely to survive if it is seen and reached by a large number of consumers. The best way to do that is to let them know of your products, services and offers via social media channels.  Social media is an amazing platform to also generate sales leads for your business as people these days like to spend most of their time on their phones that even includes online commerce. You need to come up with the content that will provide value to your potential customers.

All in all, it’s always a great idea and practice to look forward to what your mentors and experienced professionals around you have to say if you own a business or looking forward to starting one. We understand that running a business of any size is a daunting task on its own and we just hope to make it a bit easier on our entrepreneurs by sharing these quick tips so that they plan out all the necessary steps they need to achieve success. 

Categories
Business motivation

Quick Business Management Tips for MSMEs to Bounce Back

 MSMEs are undoubtedly the backbone of our economy. The havoc this global pandemic has wreaked has not spared even the biggest of the businesses, one can only imagine how hard it must have been on these micro, small, and medium enterprises. MSMEs can use all business management tips along with several schemes introduced by the government that can help them stay in existence as they are the ones who contribute heavily to the GDP of India and should not be compromised at any cost.

Even though our government and other bodies are constantly making an effort to fight the economic depression with several schemes and policies, there are many businesses across the nation that are highly concerned about the future of their respective businesses. In this article, we present some top business tips that will prove to be helpful for MSMEs to revive their businesses post-COVID era.

Perform A Financial Analysis

In these unprecedented times of economic crisis, it is advisable especially MSMEs and SMEs to once assess the financial situation of your business and company. The protocol is to sit with a professional such as a CA and assess the cash inflow, finding out the assets, liabilities, expenses, and so on. This information would be very important in making a plan for your business post COVID. However, before making a plan, please consider all of the schemes and policies introduced by the government and other bodies that can benefit your business financially. This plan will help you in deciding if your company can survive further expenses, new recruitments, etc.

Hold Hands With Digital Technology

No one can deny the fact that digitization has emerged in the form of the biggest change in the world of business. Covid-19 has taught us the importance of going digital. Those businesses who were procrastinating the task or underestimating the power of digital media are now forced to step out of their comfort zone. Turns out, digital media, not only helps you showcase your business to a wider audience but also helps in marketing it better. We all know that more than half of the world uses the internet now, hence, there could not have been a better time for business to build their digital presence.

Manage Crisis Like A Warrior With Crisis Management Strategy

In these trying times, we all learned our lessons the hardest way. We learned that neither can we predict a crisis, nor can we escape one. The whole and sole existence of your business would depend on how effective your crisis management is, if and when a crisis hits hard. This management strategy is all about the immediate call to action as well as to manage the longer impact it could have on your business. Put the experts to work, and figure out a master plan that proves to be the shield that protects your hard work from getting ruined forever.

Don’t procrastinate is what we have to say to each and every business out there that has been affected by the pandemic in some way or the other. The need of the hour is to identify the issues and start working on them immediately. After all, we can not let any crisis take away from us what we have been putting our hardest work building up.

Categories
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

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.