The rollout of goods and services tax (GST) is expected to level the playing field for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by reducing the tax arbitrage. True, at least in the immediate term, compliance costs will shoot up as GST requires registration and filing of returns in multiple states. Als…
Opinion
‘GST Enforcement: A burden for the present, a positive step for the future’
The goods and service tax (GST) is finally slated to be rolled out on July 1, 2017. And the journey so far has been anything, but easy. The fact that the proposed date of implementation for the tax has been shifted several times (from April, 2010 to April,2013 to April 2016 to now finally to [&he…
‘Leveraging Facebook can be one of the best bets for SME in Digital Environment’
Digital ecosystem today is in an exponential stage. Many small businesses are welcoming this change by leveraging the growth opportunities in this digitally driven world. A major component of this digitally driven world is the social media, especially Facebook. We all know how the recent travel o…
June 27 UN MSME Day Initiative | 7 Goals that can enable India’s SMALL BUSINESS deliver BIG IMPACT
The significance of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to economic growth and prosperity is well established. They provide the critical depth to the manufacturing and service sectors, foster entrepreneurship and generate substantial employment. The MSME sector has been reco…
GST: An idea whose time has come!
We are now just days away from the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) on July 1 — the most ambitious indirect tax reform ever attempted in modern India. Yes, the design is far from perfect (given the multiplicity of rates), yet it is a visionary idea on which, amazingly, there is politic…
Can agri-based start-ups transform the rural economy?
Earlier this year (2017), two India-based agri-technology (AgTech) start-ups hit the headlines for raising millions in funding from private equity firms. AgroStar, which provides agricultural inputs directly to farmers, raised $10 million, and RML AgTech, which offers smart farming solutions, rai…
Less noise, more action: What Indian start-ups really want from govt
After three years of PM Narendra Modi’s government in power, there have been a series of media report cards on what went right or wrong. There has been extreme criticism and some praise as well. In terms of what it has done for start-ups, it is a mixed bag. When I spoke to entrepreneurs bef…
India needs its MSMEs to go cashless: Report
Almost eight months after demonetisation, India is slinking back to using cash as its primary mode of financial transactions. While the government has undertaken several initiatives to induce the consumers to go digital, a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicts that it would be far …
View Point: ‘SME sector should get 6 months to ingest complexities of GST’
In its bid to get the maximum number of firms and individuals under the tax bracket, the Union government is boldly going ahead with the implementation of the game-changing reform of Goods and Services Tax (GST). This sort of tax disruption, virtually unprecedented in the country, might boost the…
‘Another industry Amazon plans to crush is small-business lending’
Amazon will mark its 22nd year in business this summer. During this period, the e-commerce site has transformed retail. Today it announced the purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The company took advantage of technology, used an aggressive growth strategy and disrupted the entire ind…