Until a few days back, they were a mix of housewives from middle-class families and slum-dwellers who worked as domestic-help. Now they own a company &mdash; Swamini Mahila Bachat Gat Akhil Sangh Ltd (SMBGAS) &mdash; that will manufacture polythene bags.

Ordinary women, extraordinary work

Business Standard

The sharp fall in exports has severely hit the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which account for about half the exports from the country. Though there is no specific data collected by the MSME ministry to gauge the pain of the sector, Secretary Dinesh Rai tells Vandana Gombar that he is yet to get any SOS messages from the sector, which accounts for about a tenth of the country&rsquo;s GDP.

&#39;I have not received any SOS messages&#39;

In spite of extensive support from the state government, Gujarat&rsquo;s small and medium spinning mills are on the verge of closure. While other segments in the textile industry value chain may be experiencing a turnaround, spinning is still reeling under global recessionary trends.

Gujarat&#39;s smaller spinning mills in trouble

Indian small and medium sized business (SMBs) units are aware of the need to invest in technology for essential processes like product life cycles, data security, improving transparency, and adopting scalable and flexible solutions, but are held back by budget constraints, according to the findings of a recent study carried out by Symantec Corporation, called the Symantec 2009 SMB Security &amp; Storage survey.

SMEs not making optimum use of technology: Study

The restructured accounts will be eligible for benefits like access to fresh working capital loans and additional finance under the stimulus package.

Karnataka MSME loans restructured

Our buyer abroad has supplied free of charge one of the raw materials required for making our export product. We have cleared the same on duty payment. We are not too sure as to how to show the values in the export documents.

&#39;Mere renting of immovable property is not a taxable service&#39;

The global recession, high-priced power, power cuts and scarce bank credit have brought down the net worth &mdash; or total assets minus total liabilities &mdash; of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Tamil Nadu by 40 per cent, from an estimated Rs 20,000 crore a year and a half ago, according to industry representatives.

Net worth of small units in T N down by 40 per cent

The asbestos cement sheeting industry is growing at a healthy 10-12 per cent a year.

Rural India keeps the asbestos industry going

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country have lost around Rs 2,000 crore owing to their exposure to derivative products offered by financial institutions. Small exporters in the southern textile cities of Tamil Nadu said they had been hit by the &ldquo;derivative scam&rdquo;.

&#39;SMEs lose Rs 2000 crore due to derivative exposure&#39;

The new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, faces the challenge of attracting industrialists to set up units in the hills of the state.

Attracting industries to hilly areas an uphill task in Uttarakhand

With a cumulative loan disbursement of Rs 2,611 crore and loan outstandings of Rs 775 crore, Bandhan has emerged as one of the largest micro finance institutions (MFIs) in India.

Bandhan sets FY10 loan target at Rs 2500 crore

Small firms in the IT sector offer price cuts to recession-hit clients.

In recession, small is bountiful

Small-scale units in the paint industry are fighting a losing battle with the big players. With capacity addition already being a hurdle for many, a 30 per cent increase in prices of raw material (including packaging material) in the last one year has further hurt their profit margins. Trade experts say that margins, once as high as 20 per cent, have fallen to 10-12 per cent. As a result, small paint companies are no longer able to use lower prices as their USP.

Small paint units fight a losing battle

They had not even dreamt of it, but it will soon come true. Workers at Garware Nylons Ltd (GNL), who lost their jobs when the company went bankrupt in 1996, today own the plant at Ahmednagar (some 120 km from Pune), which is spread over six acres, and are planning to restart production soon.

Jobless workers buy nylon plant, will restart production

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Institute in Kanpur is &lsquo;hand-holding&rsquo; 250 candidates to enable them to start their own venture.

MSME institute in Kanpur 'hand-holds' trainees

In order to build a corpus that will provide financial assistance to new Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the form of equity and quasi-equity, the Orissa government is working on a MSME Venture Capital scheme.

Orissa govt lends helping hand to MSMEs

Slowdown hampers import of high-precision machines.

Machine tools output drops by 20 per cent

Q: We had imported certain equipments which we found defective. We sent them back to the supplier for repairs. At the time of re-import, we sought to pay duty on the cost of repairs plus to and fro freight and insurance, under customs notification no 94/96 dated 16.12.1996. But the Customs are refusing exemption on the grounds that the equipment has been up-graded.

'Upgradation does not amount to manufacture'

The slowdown has not been a deterrent for stationery products manufacturer Camlin. It has targetted 25 per cent growth a year for the next two years, even as it aims to become a Rs 500 crore company. Dilip Dandekar, the company&rsquo;s chairman and managing director, tells Sapna Agarwal how he plans to go about this task.

'We are moving into the pre-school education arena'

The plan to develop a new industrial estate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on 530 acres of land at the Escorts Farms area in the industrial town of Kashipur in Uttarakhand has hit a roadblock.

Plan for industrial estate at Kashipur hits roadblock

In the four states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan, over 70 per cent of small scale industry (SSI) units using improved technology showed substantial quality improvement, according to a study published this April by the Society for Economic and Social Transition. Around 46 per cent indicated reduction in cost of production and more than 20 per cent indicated achievement of competitiveness in domestic and international markets through adoption of improved technology, noted the study, which was done for the Planning Commission.

85% of small units lack access to technology

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