PM to give away National Awards to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises today

October 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Telecom major Bharti Airtel has partnered with US-based network equipment maker Cisco Systems to offer services for small, medium and large enterprises. The alliance will use Cisco's Internet Protocol (IP) technologies and expertise to create and sell a set of unique products and services, including managed data services, hosted unified communications, connected branch services and Cisco TelePresence, Bharti said Tuesday.

September 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The prime minister's task force on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) held its first meeting here Friday to discuss the problems of the sector and formed seven sub-groups to suggest remedial measures. The task force reviewed the problems faced by these enterprises across the spectrum, particularly the lack of credit facilities available for small enterprises, a government statement said.

September 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Against the backdrop of the Government's efforts to continue its endeavour for stepped up economic growth, Prime Minister's Task Force on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises held its first meeting in the capital today to review the working of MSMEs. T.K.A. Nair, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, chaired the meeting.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - State-run steelmaker Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) Thursday announced its SAIL HR Excellence Awards for seven Indian manufacturing firms including Tata Motors and Jindal Steel. The SAIL has instituted the award to commemorate its 50th year of production.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Welcoming the general budget 2009-10, Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran Tuesday said some more announcements on empowerment of weaker sections and facilities for the growth of medium and small scale enterprises in the sector will be made soon. "We are going to converge with certain other announcements, particularly empowerment of weaker sections, welfare of workers in the unorganised sector and facilities for the growth of medium and small scale enterprises to utilise fully the assistance under schemes outlined in the budget, Maran told reporters here.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said the national budget was not the document to spell out micro policy details and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government remained committed to divestment in state-run firms without diluting their public sector character. "I have made it very clear that we intend to include the public in disinvestment programmes," Mukherjee told an interactive meeting with India Inc, a day after presenting the national budget for the current fiscal.

June 3rd, 2009 COIMBATORE - The global recession has affected the micro or the small industries in Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore is popularly known as the Manchester of South India because of large number of textile mills and textile units situated in and around the region.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Dinsha Patel, senior most Congress leader from Gujarat, was Thursday named minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises. Patel served as MoS in the petroleum and natural gas ministry in the previous Manmohan Singh government.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - High interest rates coupled with an uneven spread of micro-financial institutions are among the major reasons for credit still not being available to a sizable portion of the underprivileged, experts said Tuesday. 'There is an uneven spread of the micro-finance movement,' B.P.

March 13th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Governor Prabha Rau Thursday emphasised the need for setting up more agriculture and horticulture-based industries and processing units in the state for improving the status of small and marginal farmers. Speaking at the state-level national productivity award ceremony for micro, small and medium entrepreneurs here, Rau said potato chips processing units could be started in the Lahaul valley to help potato growers.

March 4th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Despite government efforts to facilitate organised growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the sector continues to face serious constraints such as access to funds, timely financing and technology support, an apex body of management professionals and associations said Tuesday. 'A recent national sample survey has revealed that 92 percent of unorganised enterprises in India do not receive financial assistance from banks or other sources,' said All India Management Association (AIMA) SME committee chairman J.S.

February 22nd, 2009 JANGIPUR - Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee Saturday flagged off the rural industries programme (RIP) in Murshidabad district and advised a cluster approach among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) players in view of the ongoing recession. 'The financial crisis has reasonably affected India's economy and we are also facing the meltdown heat.

February 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Personal computer sales rose 12 percent to 3.69 million (36.9 lakh) units in the first half this fiscal thanks to sustained demand from large and medium enterprises and households in small towns, an IT hardware industry lobby said Tuesday. According to the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT), sales of desktops rose 12 percent to 2.91 million units, while notebooks sales stood at 770,000 units, a growth of 13 percent.

February 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The less affluent sections of the Indian society seem to be out-buying the well-off classes when it comes to purchasing computers, according to an IT hardware industry lobby report released Tuesday. The biannual report, released by the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT), said the number of desktop buyers from the top socio economic class (SEC A) declined 42 percent in the first half this fiscal, while the SEC C category reported a 56 percent growth in the period.

January 28th, 2009 SURAT - The Congress party Thursday asked the Gujarat government to take immediate steps to help recession-hit small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and diamond units. Addressing the media at Valsad, 270 km from Ahmedabad and 50 km from here, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said the central government had announced two packages but the state government was wooing only big industries and ignoring the small and medium enterprises.