4G Identity Solutions Announced Leader of Tomorrow (IT/ITES-BPO/VAS category)

A doctor, a visionary, an entrepreneur and now a prestigious award winner. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector is proud to treasure Dr. Sreeni Tripuraneni, Chairman & CEO, 4G Identity Solutions, as one of its precious gems who was felicitated with the 'ET NOW-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Award 2011' at the Felicitation Ceremony in Mumbai recently for his laudable contribution under the IT/ITES-BPO/VAS category. He received the award from Mr. NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Technologies, who was the chief guest at the Ceremony.

The 15 different categories (13 across sector & two special recognition) of 'ET NOW-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011' received over 50, 000 nominations across India. 4G Identity Solutions validated its metal and clinched the most sought after award in the IT/ITES-BPO/VAS category, outshining others.

Ecstatic after bagging the award, the Hyderabad-based company owner Dr. Sreeni Tripuraneni said,“This award recognizes our high standards of quality and the significant investment we have made in identity innovation. Our unrelenting efforts have resulted in implementation of national scale Unique ID solutions and improved Government services delivery. This honor acknowledges the pioneering efforts we have made over the years and I extend my thanks to all the people who have contributed in transforming the dreams to reality”.

Under Dr. Tripuraneni's leadership, 4G has evolved from its inception in 2003 as a thought-based company to a fully integrated multi-modal identity management solutions enterprise encompassing a well balanced business portfolio of solutions and services with a research focus on Iris recognition technology. A vascular surgeon by training and a young entrepreneur, he has a long-standing passion for applying biometric technologies to uniquely identify individuals. His vision at 4G is to design, develop and deploy large-scale identity management solutions for the fast-growing countries.

By winning the pre-eminent Award, 4G Identity Solutions will inspire several other players in the space to do better, stay inclined to achieve success and win this Award next year.

Market Insight Consultants Gains Foothold in the Market

Every company has a story to tell and Market Insight Consultants is no different but what distinguishes it from others is its interesting journey that began in 2002. Coming out from the blocks of an engineer’s mind, the company saw the light of day when Mr. Sanjay Nagi, Proprietor of the company decided to put his plan into action. He shares, “We started Market Insight Consultant on 6th June, 2002 and are positioned as a decision support consultancy so essentially we help our clients to take decisions about their business.” Today, it is established as one of the leading names in decision support system and specialises in social and market research, offering market planning services and strategic market planning diverse service basket.

http://www.indiamart.com/corporate/success-stories/market-insight-consultants.html

Obstacles on way to the top makes success even more special and Mr. Nagi acknowledges this fact. Encountering challenges in different stages of business made him more determined to realise what he had set out to achieve. “There are numerous challenges which entrepreneur has to face or a business has to face in different stages of the business and the first challenge we had was to essentially to get known to set of people that known to global customers then get in the right resources, that time laptop was not so cheap so it was difficult to get the resources but its still a challenge to get accepted as a small medium firm to the foreign biggies.”

One of the early adopters of cloud computing, Mr. Nagi has reaped positives by investing in the new age technology and been appreciated for it too. “One of the compliments we got from the vendor was that they had seen very few small companies investing into cloud like we had. We did it and gained benefits out of it. I would definitely encourage young entrepreneurs to adopt the cloud for their computing needs,” says Mr. Nagi.

Expert Speak: Mr. Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Vritti i-Media

Affordable advertising solutions for SMEs in Maharashtra

Rural markets have grown to be a bigger market for every category of business in India. It’s no surprise that the Indian rural markets have become the center of attention for every product or service eyeing the Indian market.  While the rural consumer is ready to dissect the billion dollar opportunity, companies are in process of modifying their products and services to suit the needs of this class of consumers.

The consumer spending in rural areas has taken a drastic hike giving enough growth opportunities to small and mid-sized businesses.  SMEs operating at a local level can make best of the changing market scenario as they understand the market better compared to the giant competitors. For instance, in case of the consumer products category, it has been observed that consumption of such products has increased radically in rural areas. This has resulted in a surge of multi -national FMCG brands like HUL and P&G spending more time and resources in understanding the rural markets and enhancing their distribution networks in such areas. On the contrary, mid-sized FMCG companies who have a wider presence in rural areas can make best of the opportunity by creating an effective presence of their brand. Along with strengthening the local distribution network, companies also need to lay focus on a robust advertising plan to have better recognition of their brands amongst the consumers as compared to the established brands.

Advertising plays a vital role in establishing a brand amongst the target audience. It has played a vital role in transforming mere products or services into brands.

Branding and advertising are essentials for any SME to grow big. However, SMEs face a significant challenge of limited budgets and resources. In such a scenario, cost effective advertising is what can ease the problem of SMEs.

Vritti i-Media, a next generation advertising solution provider in Maharashtra has come up with innovative audio advertising solution for advertisers. Vritti i-Media has partnered with Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to run audio advertisements at various district bus terminals. They have been appointed as the Sole Authorized Agency by MSRTC to run commercial audio advertisements that are played along with the Buses’ arrival/departure announcements. Thus ensuring 100% compulsory listening for small towns and rural market consumers who travel frequently in MSRTC Buses. Since the advertisements are aired through centralized web server, Vritti i-Media has been able to connect with consumers in the most remote villages of Maharashtra. The audio network of Vritti i-Media is currently spread across 80+ locations of MSRTC bus stands covering key centers, investor hubs, all districts, important taluka places and pilgrim centres in Maharashtra.

Advantages of Vritti i-Media’s audio advertising solution to SMEs in Maharashtra:

• Reach of 103 Million people
• On-air time morning 6am to night 10pm daily
• Broadcasting every 30 minutes
• Passengers on an average change every 30 minutes and that assures your advertisement is heard by new person every time
• Every District bus stand - Average 40000 passenger footfalls every day
• Per persons cost is almost 10% compared to other media and impact is 100%
• Audio advertisement in local language can reach out to illiterates as well
• Advertisement releases at various district place bus stand and repetition throughout the day and month create a brand image
• Advertisement is heard across bus stand and up to 100 meter periphery
• Mandatory listening as the advertisement is coupled with the bus departure announcement. Passengers are actually waiting to hear the announcement
• 100% battery backup to ensure 16 hours running of system
• Advertisement can be changed within 30 minutes

Vritti i-Media assures wider reach for SMEs in cost effective budgets. This innovative concept of audio advertising solution has also won 2 Gold and 1 silver awards at the Outdoor Advertising Awards, 2011.  Gold Award for most coveted “Media owner for western region”, Gold Award for “Best Transit Media and Silver”  Award for the Best Format Innovation – New Media category.

Vritti i-Media has been responsible for making various brands a house hold name in rural and semi urban areas of Maharashtra. SMEs like Kirti Gold, Maharashtra K knowledge Corporation, Gujarat Tea traders - Vikram Tea, Pitambari, Kalnirnay publications and many more have been successful in building a brand name in rural and semi-urban parts of Maharashtra with the help of Vritti’s advertising network.

For more information on advertising solutions by Vritti i-Media, visit:
www.vrittiimedia.com

The contributor for the blog is Mr. Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Head-Marketing, Vritti i-Media

Make Cost Cutting Your Greatest Trick To Success

If you own or run an SME, this is probably a great time for you. Everyone is seeking cost effective options and SMEs that offer top-notch products and services are their best bet. As you go about offering such exciting deliverables to a client, a niggling issue at the back of your mind is cost. Cost cutting is important if you want a rising bottomline without passing on the burden to your client. Smart companies are making decisions that might be difficult but prove effective in the long run.

The first of them is to retain smaller costs that might look tempting to get rid of during a slow time but are highly beneficial in the long run. Say reducing some infrastructure or people who might offer great benefits in the long run. The other interesting way to cut costs is to reduce high-maintenance customers who require tremendous time and resources with offering equivalent profits. Best Buy has done that by eliminating customers who do not pay on time or bargain to an undesirable extent.

Sure, we don’t want to cut costs that would directly hamper your end product. Therefore, you want to keep certain costs as they are. You want to have the right people in place, appropriate machinery and desired technology. So curtailing costs requires you to see what are your biggest costs and are they worth it? You also need to weigh one time and recurring costs. With all these things to consider, what are the places an SME can safely cut costs? We look at some big and small costs for SMEs and what can be done to control them.

1. Making office space viable
Office space is costly and it is important to make sure that you are saving up some money here. Mobile office is the key and it means a lot of saving for any SME because employees save time and money commuting to office and it also means a reduction in electricity and hardware costs. Therefore, encourage employees to work from home or to work at their convenience. This also means you require a smaller office space. Shared work spaces are also a great way to have a functional office at low costs.

2. Saving benefits with technology
Investing in the right technology is a simple and effective way to cut costs. SMEs are therefore investing in cloud computing options. This means you do not have to visit numerous offices because meetings can be held online and you cut costs on moving around. Most of the information can also be shared online, which reduces a lot of costs related to discussions. It also means you do not have to invest heavily in IT infrastructure. 

3. Planned outsourcing
Outsourcing to the right people at the right costs is the key to cutting costs. At the same time, you want to make sure that outsourcing is the better model for you.

4. Changing purchase perceptions
To cut costs while maintaining the quality of your product, you want to ensure that you source good suppliers. The suppliers should also be able to provide the products in the desired timeframe and in exactly the way you want. Having good relations with suppliers also helps because you can bargain for better price and T&Cs. 

Costs are a necessity for any business. The trick is to knock them on the head in manner that does not hurt them or your business.

Raj Surgical Works: A Vision to Fulfill

The flag has been flying high for Raj Surgical Works since it was hoisted in 1991. It firmly stands on its belief of providing flawless products to its clients which has helped them grow leaps and bounds. The company is a prominent name in manufacturing and exporting of orthopaedic implants and instruments and is headed under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Krish Kumar, Business Manager. “We started our business in 1991 with a small capital,” says Mr. Kumar.

http://indiamart/corporate/success-stories/raj-surgical-works.html


During their initial years of operations, the company faced many hurdles. The company operating on low cost faced many challenges in taking their products to people and felt that they were left behind in absence of a marketing strategy. “Initially, we had many problems in marketing our products and reaching out to new customers.” shares Mr. Kumar.

But the trying times could not keep them down for long nor did their spirit to succeed was diminished. Their continuous hard work and focus towards achieving their goals were finally rewarded. “When we started in 1991, we were working with 4-5 people. Today, we are working with more than 30 persons. Our product line is DHS Plates, locking plates, strip boards which are used in different parts of body like smiles, joints and traumas etc.,” says Mr. Kumar. The company now proudly owns a sound infrastructure and has skilled manpower to cater to needs of their ever-increasing client base.

Absence of loans, high interest rates affecting Indian textile SMEs: Rita Menon

The lack of loans and high interest rates are heavily impacting the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the textile sector, said Ms Rita Menon, Textiles Secretary. 

 

Ms Rita Menon, said, “SMEs in sectors like silk sector, power-loom and spinning are hit because of lack of working capital and high interest rates.” This statement has come on the sidelines of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) function here. 

The Union Finance Ministry is reviewing a loan restructuring proposal for the textile sector and a decision may come soon. 

The Textiles Ministry is not eyeing for 'cash outgo but a moratorium on loans for two years so that the working capital could be secured for that time period. The step of suspension of loan repayment for two years would be helpful in protecting the units from becoming non-performing assets.

Read more at: http://news.indiamart.com/story/absence-loans-high-interest-rates-affecting-indian-textile-smes-rita-menon-152189.html

'MSME sector needs package due to economic slowdown'

Demand has been made in the Lok Sabha yesterday by the member of parliament (MPs) with the aim to give package to the micro, small and medium enterprises, which have been witnessing problem due to the economic slowdown. 

Reports suggest that members from different parties have made the demand while discussing the Regulation of Factors (Assignment of Receivables) Bill, 2011. Mr Shailendra Kumar (from SP) has requested Centre to establish a special fund to help the MSME sector. 

Gorakhnath Pandey (from BSP) has stated that the MSME sector, which employs many lakhs of people, is facing many problems due to the economic slowdown and there is also requirement to offer subsidy to these units. 

Read more at: http://news.indiamart.com/story/msme-sector-needs-package-due-economic-slowdown-152076.html 

Expert Speak: Mr. GK Pramod

Fundamentals of Business Scalability for SMEs

The Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are carving a niche for themselves in the growing economy of the nation. While their success is fortifying the economy further, it has become imperative for them to maintain a positive growth trajectory.

With this optimism, we will talk about how the Indian SMEs can have an effective business growth (discussed elaborately in the previous blog) with the vital 'Sutras' – Scalability, Sustainability and Profitability'.

We will have a glance and understanding of the Sutras in a practical way by referring to relevant case studies. This will make the entire process of understanding the Sutras more interactive and alive. We will begin with Scalability in this blog and understand its importance.

Scalability

If a Microlevel Entrepreneur is able to increase his/her business by duplicating his/her product/services without affecting the quality of the product/ service is called Scalability.

Importance of Scalability

• Scalability helps Microlevel Entrepreneurs to increase turnover first, and profitability next

Do’s

• Look at scaling up the business, only when the existing business unit becomes sustainable

Dont’s

• Making huge investments in new outlets may be too much of a risk for a Microlevel Entrepreneur

Case Study

We will discuss two case studies – Service business & Product business, to illustrate scalability in a better way.

1. Case Study-1 (Service Business): Mr.Ramesh Patil is a Microlevel Entrepreneur from Belgaum in Karnataka. He is running a Photography and Videography business.

The details of Ramesh Patil’s business organization unit are as follows:

1) Name of the entrepreneur: Mr. Ramesh Patil

2) Name of the organization : OM Shiva Videos

3) Nature of business : Photography & Videography

4) Details of turnover for the past 3 years:

Analysis:

Can Mr. Ramesh Patil create more number of Videography and Photography businesses providing the same quality of service to his customers?

If the answer to the above question is “Yes”, it is called a “Scalable Business”.

If the answer to the above question is “No”, it is called a “Non-Scalable Business”.

In this case Mr. Ramesh Patil can create more number of outlets. Hence this is a Scalable Business.

Challenges in Scalability in Service Business

When you scale up the business you need to ensure that the quality of the service remains the same in all outlets.

2. Case Study-2 (Service Business): Ms. Usha is a Microlevel Entrepreneur from Mysore in Karnataka. She is selling natural fresh juice.

The details Ms.Usha’s business organization unit are as follows:

1) Name of the entrepreneur: Ms.Usha

2) Name of the organization: Sushruta Fresh Juice Centre

3) Nature of business : Natural fresh juice

4) Details of turnover for the past 3 years:

Analysis:

Ms. Usha is a Microlevel Entrepreneur selling natural fresh juice in front of the parks in Mysore in Karnataka. She started one juice centre in a Maruthi van. Today, she has 4 to 5 juice business outlets across Mysore. So, her business is a Scalable Business.

Challenges in Scalability in product business 

If it is a product business, then marketing the product and reducing the price will be the two main challenges.

Scalability: Comparison between Product and Service business

Dear Microlevel Entrepreneur, do you think scaling up Mr. Mr.Ramesh Patil’s business (service business) is easier compared to Ms. Usha’s business (Product business)?

If we observe closely, scaling up of Mr. Mr.Ramesh Patil’s business (Service business) is more difficult compared to Ms. Usha’s business (Product business).

In a service business it becomes very difficult to maintain the same quality of service at all the business outlets. Even if Mr. Ramesh Patil hires a new person, say, by name Mr. Basappa Hallimatti, there will be a difference in the quality of the service provided by Ramesh Patil and Basappa Hallimatti. It is not that scalability is not possible in a service business. It is very important to adopt proper methodology and quality process in all the OM Shiva Videos outlets run by Ramesh Patil.

Bottom line to remember about Scalability

Once the existing unit starts making profits, it is better to scale up the business. Scalability brings stability to the business.

We will continue with the next Sutra – Sustainability, in my next blog. Hope this blog will be of help to the aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. Kindly leave your comments and queries.

The blog has been authored by Mr. GK Pramod, Co-founder, The Second Gear - MBA for Non MBA's Mentoring Module Concept.

To contact the author, e-mail at gk@tothesecondgear.com

Jonson Tapes Glued to Success

Reminiscing about his early years, Mr. Arun Jain, MD, Jonson Tapes recalls how he started the company and the challenges he faced in establishing his new business. "We had to go to each and every customer, industrial houses and educate them how to use our products." His persistence and the belief in his idea led him to become one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of industrial adhesive tapes and insulation materials.

 

 

http://www.indiamart.com/corporate/success-stories/jonson-tapes.html 

Twenty years of hard work and sweat has helped him attain new heights such that today, the company owns well-developed infrastructure facilities, latest process technology based machines as well as a dedicated teamwork.

 

Renowned players have upper hand over lesser known brands in the market. But, its a different ball game for new entrants in the industry who have to start from scratch and build on their credibility amongst their prospective clients and win over their trust. A similar challenge loomed over Jonson Tapes when they began their journey to identify a set of target customers. "When our product demand was very low and the market was very specific, there were no proper means and ways to find out our customers who were actually looking for our products," shares Mr. Jain.

The new age marketing that was slowly gripping the Indian business space also had an impact on Mr. Jain. "With the help of web promotions, our business has grown tremendously in few years. Our workforce has increased, we have taken over some manufacturing facilities, we have added some latest technologies and machines in our units," says Mr. Jain.

Expert Speak: Mr. Ajay Wahi

Recruit for productivity, not for numbers

You will reap rich dividends if you follow this learning to the hilt. A SME needs people who think out of the box, are creative, and are perfectionists. For all critical roles, you need the BEST. So, unlike in large organizations where recruitments are conducted by the dozen, I believe SMEs should recruit only the BEST for critical roles, even if that means some delays in the recruitment process. Do not fall into the trap of recruiting people just to increase staff size. Also, do not rush into recruiting people with lower than required skills just for the sake of delivering products faster. A product made by the best person, even if delayed due to late recruitment, would pose far fewer challenges than an inferior product developed fast by virtue of recruiting quickly the less-than-best person.

Invest time to hire the best

Recruiting the BEST is not easy. You need to make time and put in effort to take multiple rounds of interviews to identify the BEST to whom you will finally offer the position. So the first step is to mentally prepare yourself, your executive team, and others who will be involved in the interviewing process for a number of interviews. Without this mental preparation, you will probably rush through the interviews, and end up selecting someone out of sheer need to select a person. The chances are that such a person will not be the best! And if you don’t get the best, how will your organization become the best?

Streamlining of interview process

Next, you need to streamline the interview process. Ensure everyone is clear about who will conduct the first round interviews, who will participate in the second round, and so on. Often in SMEs, I have seen HR asking the department head what is to be done with short-listed candidates! You need to have complete company-wide clarity if you are planning to take many interviews, so that each step automatically leads to the next one, till the BEST person is selected.

Constitute crisp evaluation criteria

With the interview process set, one needs to chalk out very clearly the evaluation criteria to shortlist/select a candidate. This ensures that the company does not end up taking innumerable interviews without selecting a single candidate. I remember once we had taken over 100 interviews for a mid-level position and still had not made an offer despite a year having elapsed. At first, I was happy that so many interviews were being conducted, since that meant we were trying to hire only the best, till I actually ran through the evaluation criteria, only to be shocked to learn that no one was clear about them! The result: most candidates were short-listed at the first stage, and they were all rejected at the next stage! I then convened a meeting of the HR and various department heads and supervisors. We brainstormed to come up with clear and coherent evaluation criteria, and bang! We short-listed the right candidates and eventually made an offer to the best one.

Diverse interview panel

Depending upon the role you are recruiting for, your interview panel should be broad-based, because if so many interviews are to be conducted, and only a limited few conduct them, the panelists would be overloaded with interviewing duties. So expanding the pool from which the interview panel is chosen not only reduces the load on interviewers, but also motivates others to be good enough to be empanelled, creating a sense of pride and importance. Let’s face it: if the interview process and evaluation criteria are clear and well defined, you can conveniently delegate the interview process to lower levels of the hierarchy.

Collaborative recruitment effort

You can achieve all the above provided your leadership team and other seniors are with you on this journey to recruit the best .Get them together and ask them one question: Would they like to lead teams of many normally-skilled employees, or would they prefer fewer BEST-skilled ones so as to boost the quality of their teams? Most would choose the latter, where high earnings can be distributed among a smaller team of star performers rather than amongst a larger team of average employees. Someone said: A person is judged by the company s/he keeps. That is true for companies too.

To sum up, get the entire organization to realize that for critical roles, it is best to select only the BEST. Then, standardize the interview process, decide on key evaluation criteria, broaden the interview panel, and see interviewers take pleasure in their ability to select the BEST, rather than viewing the interviewing process as a liability.

Caution

You need to correctly identify critical roles before you can apply this learning.

It may take a few weeks to spread this vision across all levels of the organization.

Sum up

The interview process can be delegated to lower levels of the hierarchy. This would speed up the process and enhance quality of the recruit. Employees take pride in their ability to select the Best candidate(s) for the job, and have a personal interest in seeing their recruit succeed.

The contributor of this article is Mr. Ajay Wahi, author of management books like 'and the award for the BEST SME of the year goes to...' and 'Get Noticed Get Promoted'.

He can be contacted at 9810027979 or awahi2010@gmail.com

 

Expert Speak: Mr. GK Pramod

Business Growth & its Relevance for SMES

As a Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs), we all talk, dream and think about business growth to achieve higher goals in life. But it is as imperative to understand the meaning and relevance of business growth.

We all have our own definitions and meaning of business growth for our company depending upon the business requirements or the success achieved so far or may be the failures from which they have learnt. The sphere of business growth might include increase in turnover, heavy investments, hiring more people, et al, but this is not all. Business growth has a broader spectrum in terms of achievement which a company aims for.

Let us understand the concept with an example so that we may be able to define the business growth strategies for our respective companies.

Ramesh Patil’s Case Study (Service Business):

Mr. Ramesh Patil is a Microlevel Entrepreneur from Belgaum in Karnataka. He is running a Photography and Videography business. The details of Ramesh Patil’s business organization unit are as follows:

1) Name of the entrepreneur:                 Mr. Ramesh Patil

2) Name of the organization:                  OM Shiva Videos

3) Nature of business:                            Photography & Videography

4) Details of turnover for the past 3 years:

 

According to Mr. Patil, the definition of Business Growth would envelopes:

a) Growing the business

b) Increasing the turnover

c) Investing in buying new digital cameras

d) Hiring more people

But if we see Mr. Ramesh Patil’s case, he is only considering very few points related to Business Growth leaving the other vital parameters regarding Business Growth which are mentioned below:

a) Increasing profitability

b) Increasing market share

c) Opening more business outlets

d) Pumping more finances in to the business

e) Diversifying into advertising, publishing, editing and other business areas

Dear Microlevel Entrepreneurs, let us combine and analyse all the points related to Mr. Ramesh Patil’s Business Growth of his Photography and Videography business.

Importance of Business Growth:

a) A Microlevel Entrepreneur gets motivated by Business Growth

b) Business Growth helps in increasing in turnover there by profitability

c) Increasing the customer base

d) Increase market share and market size

e) This helps the Microlevel Entrepreneur to move from Microlevel to Macro level

Key Points to Remember:

a) Prioritize Business Growth Strategy
b) Give importance to existing business and simultaneously sensibly plan for the product/service diversification in the near future

While we have discussed Business Growth in this blog, we will continue in the next blog with the must practice three ‘SUTRAS’ that makes the business growth strategies more effective. Hope the blog has been insightful.

The blog has been authored by Mr. GK Pramod, Co-founder, The Second Gear - MBA for Non MBA's Mentoring Module Concept.


To contact the author, e-mail at gk@tothesecondgear.com

Kindly leave your comments and queries.

Govt needs to offer export finance to MSMEs at concessional rates: FIEO

Centre needs to offer export finance at concessional rate not over 7% for the Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and 9% for the big business houses with the aim to strengthen exports and also to control the trade deficit, said Mr Ramu S Deora, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). 

Mr Ramu S Deora, said, “It is understood that keeping in view the present global downward trend even in England, ECB has offered 25 basis points reduced rate of interest for supporting their export industry. With the abnormal increase in the cost of inputs and packaging material, our exports are day by day becoming uncompetitive nullifying the scope of margins offered by rupee depreciation. It is of utmost important that we have consistency in our reforms and policies in order to maintain our image as a reliable supplier in the global market.”

Read more at: http://news.indiamart.com/story/govt-needs-offer-export-finance-msmes-concessional-rates-fieo-151588.html

Women Power Recognised at ET NOW-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011

Breaking the glass ceiling, Ms. Ritu Singal embodied women power at the ET-NOW IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011Ceremony held in Mumbai recently. For exceptionally leading Raglan Group to success, she was recognized as the ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the ceremony. She would cherish this moment forever as the prestigious award was bestowed on her by the Indian entrepreneurship icon Mr. NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Technologies.

Enthusiastic yet retaining her calm equanimity, Ms. Ritu Singal, Managing Director, Raglan Group said, "This award reaffirms my belief in my mentor Dr. Daisaku Ikeda's words that perseverance is the key to success. Its my gratitude to ET NOW and IndiaMART.com for recognising my efforts because it will go a long way in making Women in society believe in their potential and capabilities and not feeling defeated in critical moments of life. This award is like a guaranteed seal for Raglan group team for their dedication and sincerity and has inspired me further to be a great entrepreneur."

At the helm of affairs, Ms. Singal’s vision has had a vision for Raglan Group, that of becoming the most loved and respected company and fulfilling the social and professional responsibilities. With this guiding principle, the two companies under the group umbrella - Raglan Infrastructure Ltd. (RIL) and Winner Nippon Electronics Ltd. (WNEL)have been contributing to the construction and textile sectors and experiencing resonating success. RIL has been constructing several construction projects viz residential flats, hotels, commercial complexes, et al whereas WNEL is one of the leading manufacturers of polypropylene textiles and polyurethane textiles.

ET NOW-IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards exemplify the true spirit of entrepreneurship by providing a level playing field to women entrepreneurs with this special award.

Color Design India Lights Up

Realising his true calling, Mr. B.S.Mehra, Proprietor, Color Design India moved past hurdles to offer his clients unique services. Today, Color Design India is present across the country and has its name embedded as one of the most renowned companies in the field of illumination and aqua solutions. From a humble beginning in 1999, the company has come a long way by offering some of the best fountain and LED lights. “We established this company in 1999, and as we are into fountains and LED lights we have very wide range of product segments which includes specifically musical fountains, show fountains, laser fountains, water curtains and champagne jets,” shares Mr. B.S.Mehra, Proprietor, Color Designs.

http://www.indiamart.com/corporate/success-stories/color-design-india.html

Color Design India offers products that are considered as luxury and unique and therefore not seen as essential for living by many. Aware of this fact, Mr. Mehra realised the challenge he faced but this did not deter his conviction of going ahead with the idea he believed in and set out to make a name in the business world. “These are not products which are necessary for day to day routine life. So we need to market our product and we need to educate our customer about the application of these equipments. So there was a tough challenge to make them understand that yes we can contribute for their success.” said Mr. Mehra.

As a result of constant endeavour to excel, the company has earned accolades from the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, in recognition of their efforts towards enhancing the beauty of Jaipur through their services. “The best compliment we received was from Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhra Raje Scindia who specifically complimented about the hard work we have done for the beautification of the city as we are in to the master plan of Jaipur.” Mr. Mehra proudly adds.

Color Design India has a well defined marketing strategy which focuses on web promotions to enhance their reach. They have adapted the online media to generate the maximum queries for their business.

Companies Bill to be more flexible; SMEs worried

In a bid to make the Companies Bill more lean and flexible, it will be stripped of all detail, which may be separately inserted under the heading – Rules. 

The bulk of the Bill is being taken to the Rules, to enable quick amendments through notifications without going to Parliament.

“The procedures will be in the rule as always,” said an official of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 

“Any amendment in the Act, i.e. law, is a complicated task as it requires Parliamentary approval, whereas Rules can be amended by the Government at any time through official notifications. Hence, it was preferred to avoid giving details in the Act,” said Mr Pavan Kumar Vijay, Managing Director of Delhi-based consultancy, Corporate Professionals. 

While industry welcomed the move, they cautioned against pushing through of misplaced legislation, especially the medium and small and micro enterprises (MSMEs). 

“The Government will have the flexibility to listen to different associations from time to time but there is a danger of it becoming a victim in the hands of big companies. For small companies whose lobbies are too small to be heard, it does not provide a level playing field,” said Mr Dinesh Agarwal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Indiamart.com. 

Read more at: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/article2696148.ece