Terming the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) move to cut the short-term lending rate by 25 bps to 6.25% from 6.50% as positive, experts argue it may have little or no impact for SMEs in the country. “The first significant policy announcement since assuming responsibility as the Governor …
Import of second hand machines hurting textile industry: Smriti Irani
New Delhi: Import of second hand machinery with subsidies provided by the government is affecting the technical textile sector and garment designers, Union Minister Smriti Irani said. “If you look at the Indian economy from a textile perspective, most of our subsidies have gone in importin…
Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw backs two cancer start-ups
Nearly four decades after launching Biocon, one of India’s earliest biotech companies, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is ready to be part of the country’s startup ecosystem. On October 3, she invested $1.6 million (around Rs 11 crore) in Philadelphia and Mumbai-based UE Lifesciences, the developer of an aff…
The promoter of an SME has high skin in the game | R Vasudevan, Senior Director, Crisil
Small businesses have fared better during the economic slowdown than large companies. They have also kept debt problems under check, says R Vasudevan, Senior Director, Crisil Ratings – SME. Q: How many SMEs does Crisil rate? Are the ratings driven by statutory requirements? If not, why seek ratin…
Trupay partners with PayPal for global payments
Trupay, a financial app, on October 3, said that it has partnered with payment processor PayPal Pte. Ltd, allowing its merchants to accept and make payments internationally. “This partnership will not only enable international cross border payments for Trupay customers and merchants but also enab…
AppsDaily raises $3.75 mn from founders, others
Mumbai-based mobile protection and security firm AppsDaily Solutions Pvt. Ltd said it secured Rs 25 crore ($3.75 million) from founders and existing investors. The fresh capital would be used to finance growth plans, AppsDaily said in a statement. The company’s existing investors include Zodius C…
IITian diaspora urged to make Startup India a success
India has urged the IITian diaspora to invest in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Startup India campaign to promote a culture of innovation in its ancestral land. Speaking at the 2016 International Conference of the IIT Alumni Canada which brought over 400 IITians from the US, Canada and Australia …
Facebook launches buy-and-sell ‘Marketplace’
Facebook on October 3 launched a new online “Marketplace” allowing members of the huge social network to buy and sell with each other. The new feature puts Facebook squarely in competition with local online selling platforms led by Craigslist, and offers an alternative to marketplaces…
India Inc’s credit quality recovers in H1 FY17: CRISIL
Credit quality of Indian companies seems to be turning around. For the first time in five years, the value of the debt upgraded was higher than the value of the debt downgraded, CRISIL said. The value of rated debt upgrade was Rs 72,000 crore in April-September 2016, against downgrades of Rs 40,0…
Mudra reports Rs 66 cr net profit in first year of operation
Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency (Mudra) on October 3 reported a net profit of Rs 66 crore and an income of Rs 364 crore in the first year of its operations. Mudra Chairman Kshatrapati Shivaji said the company’s net profit and deferred tax adjustments stood at Rs 65.93 crore w…