Clusterkraft Newsletter

Small- and medium-enterprises (SME) and the textile sector have been reeling under the impact of a tough global economy. But these enterprises are hopeful of quick reforms to facilitate a turnaround. With a stable government in place and the exclusion of the Left from the scheme of things, small- and medium-enterprises, or SMEs, are hopeful that the government will take steps to further stimulate demand and create an SME exchange for companies between Rs 5 and Rs 50 crore. The sector is also hopeful that the government will work with banks and other financial institutions to reserve a percentage More…

With global recession putting on weight much higher than expected, one field that has gone for a toss is trust. According to M. A. Rukadikar, Deputy General Manager, ECGC of India Ltd.(Export Credit Guarantee Corporation) his company is weighing risk factors of overseas countries to accordingly caution Indian exporters to properly insure their export consignments so that export proceeds are not defaulted. Trade on a platform you understand The ECGC's risk weighing would be put up for public consumption in due course of time to awaken exporters against their export risks, added Mr.Rukadikar while delivering a key note address More…

NSF-CMi, leading food safety and certification provider, starts operations in India

NSF-CMi, the leading specialist food safety and certification provider, started its operations in India this week. The Indian business unit NSF Safety and Certifications India Private Limited, which is owned by NSF International, will offer services from both the NSF and NSF-CMi portfolios, providing support for the food, water and consumer goods industries throughout the country. NSF-CMi is a well-known certifier of fresh produce, chicken, and other products exported to the US, the UK and Europe and its services in India include support especially designed for the Indian market. Its supplier development program aims More…

Sage India launches payroll software for SMEs

Software solutions provider Sage India today announced the launch of its payroll software designed for small and medium businesses to help companies with their salary-related operations. The Payroll software, 'Sage Pocket' comes in two versions - professional and premium - along with online modules available as add-ons, Sage said in a statement. The Sage Pocket Professional solution is configurable and allows the user to set statutory regulations, calculate income tax, track reimbursements and generate pay slips. Employee master details can be maintained with the option to upload all the necessary documents, it said. More…

Slovenia Shines for Indian SMEs

Slovenia is one of the most prosperous countries in Central Europe. Subsequent to its affiliation with the European Union in 2004, the country has moved towards privatisation. The Slovenian government has also undertaken a number of structural reforms to boost the economy and generate employment opportunities. It managed to achieve a significant growth rate of 4.3% in 2008. As a result of these concerted efforts, several Indian SMEs are seen entering the Slovenian market. Major industries in Slovenia include electronics, automobiles, textiles, wood products, ferrous metallurgy, machine tools and electric power equipment. More…

The 2.3% decline in India's industrial production in March 2009 - most dismal performance in about 14 years - was only to be expected after the merchandise exports contracted by a third during the month. Much of this contraction was led by the decline in manufacturing output, which fell 3.3% in March, from a year ago. However, much of the decline the manufacturing output, and hence the performance of the index for industrial production (IIP), may have been overestimated. This is because many business enterprises are known to delay reporting their production numbers to the government A more accurate number More…

The economic slowdown has taken its toll on the export performance of Karnataka for the year 2008-09. The state's export earnings are estimated to be lower by around 25 per cent for the year ended March 2009 compared to Rs 1,32,700 crore achieved in the previous fiscal. For the nine month period ended December 2009, exports from the state were estimated at Rs 70,000 crore and for the full year, the initial predictions are that the state may have lost around Rs 10,000 crore export earnings, according to D Muralidhar, president, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI). More…

Tamil Nadu Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Drugs Manufacturers Association TASUDMA urges ISM Commissioner to set up Drug Information Centre for Indian System of Medicine sector

Tamil Nadu Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Drugs Manufacturers Association (TASUDMA) has demanded the Commissionarate of Indian System of Medicine in Tamil Nadu to launch a Drug Information Centre (DIC) for ISM in the state. In the communication to the Commissioner, the Association has highlighted the need and scope for such an information centre. If it is sanctioned, it will be the first DIC for ISM in the country. According to Dr Vijay Mehtha, the secretary of TASUDMA, they have informed the commissionarate that a website containing all the information of ISM pharmacopoeia should be launched along with the opening More…

Coconut Cluster project for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Thrissur districts and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Kochi-based Coconut Development Board has formulated a project for the rejuvenation or replacement of old, disease-affected coconut palms. The departments of Agriculture and Cooperation have approved its implementation on a pilot basis in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Thrissur districts and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, say board officials here. Minnie Mathew, Chairperson of the board, says the year 2008-09 was a challenging one when the country emerged as the largest producer of coconut in terms of nuts. With a production of 15.84 billion nuts, India overtook Indonesia, whose More…

In addition to several normal features that a regular website has, Samadhan Foundation site has a number of additional features which make it a unique site. Samadhan Foundation (SF) works with a mission to facilitate and help people/communities in finding solution to diverse developmental challenges and problems. It has a number of activities targeted at Rural Transformation and Gram Swaraj. Further it has a goal of setting up Village Development Centres to facilitate all round development of villages. A Village Development Centre, that the SF has envisioned, would undertake activities such as: library, reading room More…

Canterbury food manufacturers are being invited to work together to share knowledge, overcome problems and take advantage of opportunities in an initiative launched by Canterbury Development Corporation and Lincoln University. The Canterbury Innovative Foods Cluster is being launched Tuesday 19 May, CDC Sector Manager Agri-Business, Blair Cottam, says. "There's so much knowledge within individual companies that would help develop the sector if these companies were able to share information and act collectively on issues," Mr Cottam says. CDC and Lincoln University were keen to act as intermediaries to help the industry. More…

Small and medium scale enterprises have generally been accepted as the engine room of a nation's economic development. The sector has also been acknowledged as the highest employer of labour far more than big corporate organisations. This reality is based on the fact that SMEs exist in virtually every aspect of the economy and their number is far more than that of the big organisations. In places where all the supporting infrastructure are in place, the SMEs play a crucial role in the development of a growing economy. They are usually considered to be the foundation of every national economy, generating not less than 50 percent More…

Barclays Bank of Kenya Limited (Barclays Kenya) has launched a new product for its customers. The new product the bank says is aimed at addressing the unique business banking needs of the Small and Medium (SME) customer segment. The Barclays SME Enterprise Account will be a reward-based transaction account that gives customers benefits pegged on a minimum average balance per month. Under the new product, customers will enjoy discounted account maintenance and ledger fees, cash handling fee waiver, free cheque books, free local cheque processing, free monthly statement, and one-day clearing within Barclays Kenya. More…

Banks are still not expanding their lending to businesses, according to Business Lending. Kevin Cooke, sales & marketing director at Business Lending said: "The recent announcement by Lloyds to make 625 staff redundant from their SME lending division really sums it up. We are seeing many excellent quality cases presented to us at Business Lending that have been turned down by high street banks for it seems no real reason. With what we hear from our brokers there is ample proof that there is still a huge gap between the hype of increased lending and the reality. "Lending from banks has not improved markedly and there is no sign More…

A four-day SME Fair, fourth of its kind in Dhaka, begins at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital on May 24 (Sunday) to make local products popular and inspire entrepreneurs of small ventures. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCCI) will host the event of the SME Fair-2009 with the twin-end in view. FBCCI President Annisul Huq at a press briefing Thursday said they have decided to offer FBCCI-Standard Chartered SME Awards-2009 to the entrepreneurs in seven categories considering their contribution to different areas. President Zillur Rahman would hand over the awards More…

Cardinus Launches Ecommerce Online Health and Safety Solution for SME Market

Cardinus, (a THB Group plc member company) - providers of online injury reduction solutions and risk management within the safety, fleet, insurance and property sectors, today launched a dedicated ecommerce website, for health and safety solutions, aimed specifically at the SME marketplace in the UK. The website which can be viewed at www.sme.cardinus.com was devised in response to growing demand from smaller firms who require a cost-effective risk management solution to ensure they comply with all current and draft government health and safety legislation. www.sme.cardinus.com is a secure online portal for companies More…

IBM targets SMEs with new servers

Computermaker IBM recently unveiled its newest server offerings for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Makati City. These new System x servers are the first such machines to carry the 45-nanometer Intel Xeon 5500 processors in the Philippines, product marketing manager for IBM's growth market unit Andrew Spurgeon said. According to Spurgeon, these new products offer hardware-software combinations that will enable customers to easily roll out virtualized computing and significantly reduce their operating costs through "higher performance, simplified management and increased [server] utilization. Using IBM's dynamic More…

Research Triangle Region, N.C. - The Research Triangle Region of North Carolina added 110,224 new jobs from 2003-2008, exceeding the job-creation goal set by the region's five-year economic competitiveness plan, Staying on Top: Winning the Job Wars of the Future. The 13-county region also posted a net gain of 8,457 jobs in 2008, despite the global economic downturn. The Research Triangle Region, home of The Research Triangle Park™ (RTP), comprises the north-central N.C. counties of Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake and Warren. More…

The European Union is seeking to promote clusters of large companies, SMEs, researchers, and other economic actors to help foster innovation, bring together a critical mass of commercial and R&D expertise and get maximum value from investment. Milestones: " 13 Sept. 2006: European Commission communication on innovation strategy called for strengthening of clusters. " Sept. 2006: European Cluster Alliance established. " 4 Dec. 2006: European Competitiveness Council backed support initiatives for innovative clusters. " Dec. 2006: High Level Advisory Group on clusters established under the European Innova initiative. More…

There is a good chance that by 2014, the economy would be at or near a double digit GDP growth rate It seems that notwithstanding the global financial crises, India is set to become a high-growth state and more of a welfare state under the new government. The so-called work programme of 2009-2014 has already been chalked out in the Congress party manifesto and there should be no political or other constraints in pushing it through. There is a good chance then that by 2014, the economy would be comfortably chugging along towards a double digit GDP growth rate or may even have reached it More…

Nine out of 10 SMEs in the UK say government action is falling short Government schemes to support small and mid-sized businesses are falling woefully short, a survey carried out by leading SME website cmypitch.com has found. Nine out of 10 of more than 2,000 entrepreneurs and business owners surveyed by the site for entrepreneurs and business owners stated that the government is not supporting SMEs sufficiently, and the majority of respondents were not even aware of the schemes designed to help them. For those that had heard of government schemes available such as the Enterprise Finance More…

Event Profile: Medi Herbal Expo 2009 is a logical exposition for all, who are related with this trade, from farmer to the exporters of value added products. New agri entreprenuers are also venturing into this vast unknown area and joining traditional growers to grow varieties that will give them more profit. More…

Event Profile: Food Retailing Expo 2009 will be the ideal platform for Indian food companies, inputs suppliers and farmers to meet with people, who are in food retail revolution and the potential buyers who have capacity and inclination to purchase healthy food. It will also give a golden chance to understand the corporate More…

Event Profile: Fabric & Accessories Trade Show 2009 will provide an excellent opportunity to the manufacturers and suppliers of apparel fabrics, trimmings, embellishments, and related services to display their products to the potential buyers from all over the world. It is an international event designed to create new business relationships. More…

Event Profile: India Fashion Focus 2009 is a leading trade show for fabric, dress, inner-outer wear and accessories in India. The event, being organized by City Leaves Media Events Pvt. Ltd., at Cochin, will provide a great platform for manufacturers and retailers of clothing & fashion accessories to expand their business More…

Event Profile: NCOSS 2009 - National Conference on Open Source Software will provide a forum to bring together the various groups working on developing Open Source Applications catering to specific domains in the ICT world, including education, health, accessibility, localisation, e-commerce, disaster management More…

Clusterkraft e-Newsletter

(Vol.47)