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Khadi Mall to soon come in Kerala’s Kottayam

The government is planning to open a Khadi mall in Kottayam this year (2017) itself as part of efforts to develop a Khadi brand in Kerala, Industries Minister A C Moideen said on May 11. The government’s effort is to brand the state’s Khadi in a big way, the Minister said, replying to queries fro…

India First: The new mantra for govt purchases

New Delhi: It’s India First for the government and it means potentially a $600 billion-plus ‘market’ for Indian manufacturing and services companies. The Centre’s recast of its General Financial Rules (GFR) that guide public finance including government procurement, and created an enabling …

SME sector will make a stronger comeback in 2018: Capital First

Capital First’s fourth quarter earnings were slightly ahead of estimates on back of strong balance sheet growth. Asset quality remained stable. The year-on-year (YoY) asset under management (AUM) growth for the quarter stood at 24 per cent. Retail AUM was up 33.4 per cent YoY. The Q4FY17 Yo…

Unclear norms: P2P lending start-ups face funding woes

Mumbai: The fledgling peer-to-peer lending start-ups, which had been waiting for almost a year for the Reserve Bank of India to lay down the rules of operations, may find the going tougher. While on the one hand, delay in regulations is affecting their fund-raising plans, it is also casting a sha…

VC start-up investments hit 22 month low of $125m in April

Even as April saw poster boys of the start-up ecosystem Flipkart and Ola rack up funds, overall investments touched new lows. Venture capital funding marked a 22-month low at $125 million across 31 deals. The number of investments shrank by 6 per cent compared with the same period last year, whil…

Here’s how Chinese investors are helping Indian start-ups

The first time iXigo Founder Aloke Bajpai pitched to Fosun Kinzon Capital, the venture capital arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun, it was through an interpreter. He was uncomfortable with the language barrier — a major factor that impedes the intermingling of the start-up ecosystems of the two nei…

Multinational companies need to create local opportunities: Satya Nadella

Microsoft’s India-born Chief Satya Nadella has said that multinational companies need to give back to local communities and generate businesses for them to ensure long-term growth at a time when politicians from major countries are harping on nationalism. “Any company that just collects rent inte…