Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s initiative to boost up medium scale industries has resulted in action as around 2,200 new factories have come up in West Bengal in the last four years. State Labour Minister Malay Ghatak said that there was a sharp rise in the registration of new factories in the …
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PayPal cuts forex commission by 40% for SME exporters
Global digital payments company PayPal said it has cut its forex conversion mark-up by up to 40 percent to benefit small exporters. “We have given our percent discount on the total fees. What that does is…for a small merchant, this will translate to about 30-40 per cent discount,̶…
Sitharaman pitches for cut in repo rate to help MSMEs
Making a strong case for providing medium & small manufacturers and exporters with cheaper credit, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on August 24 pitched for a cut in the repo rate by as much as 200 basis points to help the cash-starved Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSM…
RCom launches cloud service for seamless connectivity to enterprises
Reliance Communications and its subsidiary Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) on August 24 launched a cloud-centric service called Cloud X WAN. Cloud X WAN is suited for India as it offers seamless connectivity and double bandwidth at existing price points, RCom said. Cloud X WAN will provide cloud-based…
Crowdfunding platform FuelADream goes beyond funding to scale ideas
A Bengaluru-based crowd-funding platform, FuelADream, is trying to help founders with brilliant ideas to raise funds and also scale up their business. Many companies from across the country such as Spero Bikes, a Coimbatore-based electric bike manufacturer, Tiffy Template, a Bengaluru-based trust…
Flipkart, Paytm fund $1 mn to Unacademy
Online learning platform Unacademy has raised $1 million in funding led by Blume Ventures, while entrepreneurs such as Flipkart Co-Founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Freecharge’s Kunal Shah also participated in the round. This is the second round of institutional f…
Large companies open purse for start-ups
The participation of large Indian corporate’s in providing financial backing to startups is growing, and while only firms such as Infosys and Wipro have set up dedicated startup funds, others are tracking disruptive technologies in their own sectors with clearance from their boards to sink …
Ford Smart leads $24-million in Zoomcar funding
Ford Smart Mobility, a subsidiary of US automaker Ford which was spun off in March this year to focus on advancing transportation technologies, has made its first investment in India through self-drive car rental service Zoomcar. Ford led a $24-million investment in Zoomcar, which was announced o…
RBI formulating framework to ease flow of credit to MSMEs
CII-CRISIL Report recommends action points to increase MSME ratings The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is initiating a process for putting in place a framework for accreditation of credit counsellors who are expected to serve as facilitators and enablers for micro and small entrepreneurs. RBI Deput…
Germany contributes 22.6 cr for skill development in India
India and Germany are deepening their collaboration in the area of skill development. An implementation agreement was signed between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and German International Cooperation (GIZ), to initiate a new project focused on adapting elements of …