LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh shelters about 4.4 million SME units – the highest in the country — with cities like Varanasi, Bhadohi, Moradabad and Aligarh carving out a niche for the world famous Banarasi saree, carpets, brassware and locks respectively. The micro, small and medium enterprise (MS…
Government to revise MSME definition
Parliament will soon amend Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act to at least double the investment cap for MSMEs both in manufacturing and services sector. The amendment bill which has already been introduced Lok Sabha in April this year has been referred to Parliamentary standing co…
EDUCATION E-STARTUP FASTUDENT RAISES SEED FUND
Fastudent, an education e-commerce start-up, has raised a round of seed investment from a group of marquee angel investors, led by Ashish Gupta, founder and trustee at Ashoka University. The company did not disclose the amount raised. Founded by IIT-IIM alumuni, Gaurav Barman and Geetanjali Khann…
START-UPS MAY GET MAT EXEMPTIONS, IPR EARNING WAIVERS
The government has suggested exempting start-ups from the levy of minimum alternate tax (MAT), exemptions on earnings from intellectual property rights and a relief from the anti-abuse provisions with regards to capital gains tax, a senior official told The Indian Express. Listing out a slew of m…
SOFTBANK LEADS Rs 780 CRORE FUNDING IN GROFERS
Grofers, a hyperlocal express delivery startup, has raised $120 million, or Rs 780 crore, in a new funding round which is being led by Japan’s SoftBank Corp. Existing investors in the two-year-old Gurgaon-based company, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Apoletto Managers, a personal fund ma…
DATING APP TINDER’S DOWNLOADS UP 400 PER CENT; WOMEN MORE ACTIVE
Online dating app Tinder on Wednesday said it has witnessed a 400 per cent increase in downloads in the country in the past year, and women are more active in using the application than men. “We are truly excited about the rapid adoption of Tinder in India…women particularly seem to love Ti…
HYPERLOCAL HOME SERVICES STARTUP INDIKREW TO RAISE UP TO $2 MILLION
IndiKrew, a hyperlocal home services platform run by Hyderabad-based technology firm Aizant Online, is looking at raising up to $2 million (about Rs 13 crore) in its first round of external funding by March 2016, according to its founder Bhaskar Sayyaparaju. IndiKrew, which has been running on a …
QUIKR MOVES TO NEW CAMPUS, COMPLETES ITS BENGALURU RELOCATION
Bengaluru might be falling short of the right infrastructure and business-friendly environment compared to Delhi and Mumbai but the city’s tech talent seems good enough to attract new-age technology-backed companies from across the country. Online classified portal Quikr, which had shifted its he…
RBI NOD TO THREE COMPANIES TO SET UP TRADE DISCOUNTING SYSTEM
The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday granted an inprinciple approval to three companies to set up and operate a new Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) under the Payment and Settlement System (PSS) Act 2007. A joint venture among the National Stock Exchange’s NSE Strategic Investme…
GOVT READIES NEW POLICY ON START-UPS
The government is working on a new start-up policy that will focus on manufacturing, seek to promote innovation, and also offer tax incentives to small unlisted start-ups. The aim, a government official familiar with the matter and speaking on condition of anonymity said, is to build an en…