The Indian salt industry is embarking on a modernisation exercise to increase salt yields and improve quality. The Indian Salt Manufacturers&rsquo; Association (ISMA) proposes to establish model salt farms in all major salt growing states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Salt manufacturers' body to start model farms

Business Standard

Parveen Travels (P) Ltd., a company that operates 60 inter-city buses across the four southern states, connecting 55 destinations and carrying 2,000 passengers every day, is poised to convert itself from an operator of bus services to a full-fledged hospitality player.

Bus operator to enter hospitality

The All India Society for Electronics and Computer Technology (AISECT) was established in 1997 to take the information technology revolution to rural India. It provides rural folk training in IT-related skills, enabling them to gain employment or start an entrepreneurial venture. Pravda Godbole spoke to Santosh Choubey, AISECT&rsquo;s founder and managing director, about the organisation and its future plans.

Q&A: Santosh Choubey, Founder, AISECT

Just a few years ago, Jasbir Kaur (45) of Thuha village in Patiala district could not have dreamt of becoming economically independent at the age of 40. Today, as skilled embroiderers, she and many other women of her village command the respect of male members of their families.

Phulkari empowers women in punjab

Trade officials from Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ), a free-trade zone in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, are in Kerala to identify potential investors from the SME sector.

RAK free-trade zone woos Kerala investors

In light of the vast gap between the demand for and supply of skilled labour available to the Indian textile and clothing industry &ndash; the country&rsquo;s second largest employer after the agriculture sector &ndash; non-government organisations and academic institutes in Bangalore have launched innovative schemes to train the youth and make them &ldquo;industry-ready&rdquo;.

Honing talent for the textile industry

Getting a business off the ground requires a range of skills and expertise that a startup can find daunting and expensive. Outsourcing is an affordable way out. But the focus of outsourcing itself is changing from cost-saving to hiring the best talent at the lowest price.

Just what the doctor ordered for startups

Since there is a single VAT dealer registration, you can use the VAT Credit from the manufacturing activity to pay VAT on trading goods.

'Stock transfer from EOU to DTA is allowed'

Large corporate houses are helping micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to keep pace with the changing times, especially in the matter of introducing innovative measures to help them turn cost-efficient.

Large companies give small units a helping hand

After an initial setback due to the global recession, the Indian information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services-business process outsourcing (ITES-BPO) industry is back on the high-growth path, according to the findings of a survey of SMEs in the sector, conducted by IndiaMART Knowledge Services (IKS).

'IT, ITES-BPO industry upbeat on 2011 outlook'

In the wake of persistent demands from the MSME (Micro, Small &amp; Medium Enterprises) sector, the Orissa government has decided to examine the possibility of having a separate department for the sector.

Orissa mulls separate department for MSMEs

The lack of institutional credit has been a major impediment to the growth of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in Uttar Pradesh.

Lack of institutional credit biting UP MSMEs

The Tiruchi unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) expects around 20 of its 500 local vendors to switch to its comparatively new outsourcing model, &ldquo;away centre fabrication&rdquo; (ACF), in the current financial year.

Bhel's 20 local vendors to switch business model

Lall Lahiri &amp; Salhotra (LLS) is a leading Indian intellectual property (IP) law firm based in Gurgaon. LLS has developed a database of all registered and advertised trademarks in India and an in-house trademark and patent management software. It has also helped establish the Institute of Intellectual Property Research and Practice, to spread awareness of IPR in India. Anuradha Salhotra, managing partner of LLS, talks to Business Standard on IP awareness among Indian SMEs.

Q&A: Anuradha Salhotra, Managing Partner, Lall Lahiri & Salhotra

As of now power projects above the size of 1,000 megawatts also called mega power projects, which import their equipment like boilers, turbines and generators, enjoy a concessional basic customs duty of 2.5 per cent and full exemption from counterveiling duty (CVD).

More power to equipment makers

Industries with a focus on consumers predictably had reasons to cheer after the finance minister decided not to roll back the excise duty by two per cent as expected.

Untouched excise brings relief

INDIRECT TAX: Proposals related to excise and Customs would result in a net revenue gain of Rs 7,300 crore.

Eye on GST, govt prunes exemption list

SPENDING: Extra tax on airfare, hotel room and drinking at an air-conditioned restaurant.

Good life will come at a higher price

If there is a single issue which has proved to be an over-riding factor in the formation of this year&rsquo;s budget, it is inflation. Almost everything that the finance minister has done, and not done, can be explained by that one issue. Consider the following.

T N Ninan: An anti-inflation Budget

The government would provide an additional Rs 6,000 crore capital to state-owned banks in financial year 2011-12 to help them maintain at least eight per cent capital adequacy ratio in Tier-I level, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday while presenting the Union Budget for 2011-12 (April-March) at the lower house of the Parliament.

Govt to infuse Rs 6,000 cr into PSU banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his Budget speech on Monday. The government has decided to table the Bill during the Budget session of Parliament.

Banking Bill to be tabled this session

SME: Find all the latest news on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in India. Explore more for the top headlines about SME sector on Business Standard.

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