Workshops on Growth opportunities for SMEs at Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Vadodara
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At Rajkot: From left are, Mr. Virendra Singh, Jt. DGFT, Rajkot; Mr. Rajesh Bhatia; MrDhansukhbhai Vora; Mr. Antala, Secretary, REA; Mr. Sunil Lakhani, Jt. Secretary, REA; Ms Cassandra Pillai; and Ms Kuheli Basu, Google; Ms Sonali Singhee, Google. |
FIEO & ICICI Bank jointly organized a series of workshop on "Growth Opportunities for SMEs" in three industrial towns of Gujarat - Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Vadodara - on 6th, 7th & 8th February respectively. About 90 exporters took part in the workshop at Rajkot, while 120 exporters were present at Ahmedabad and a similar number of exporters at Vadodara. The workshop addressed the issues concerning small and medium exporters like credit facilities, rupee appreciation, technology upgradation, emerging trends in international trade etc.
Mr. Rajesh Bhatia, Jt. Director, FIEO, Western Region initiated the proceedings of these workshops by outlining the activities carried out by FIEO in the interest of Indian exporters, especially the small and medium ones.
Ms. Cassandra Pillai of ICICI Bank Ltd apprised the participants during these workshops with the facilities offered by her bank for SME sector. She highlighted some of the special schemes having minimum transaction costs offered by the bank to exporters and claimed that such schemes were not bring offered by other banks. Another ICICI official, Mr. Nilay Desai made presentations during the workshops explaining the risks attacked to foreign exchange remittances and the ways and means to hedge such risks.
Ms. Kuheli Basu from Google told the participants from all the three towns about how the well-known search engine offered an efficient and cost-effective marketing tool to Indian exporters. She said Google ad spend is not based on number of clicks on the website but the response made by visitors, thus ensuring maximum return.
At RAJKOT, Mr. Virendra Singh, Jt. DGFT, Rajkot informed that currently the Directorate was attaching special importance to export of agricultural products in order to achieve inclusive growth. Allaying the misconception that issuing IEC code number is time consuming, Mr. Singh said it is issued within 24 hours, provided the application is complete with all supporting documents.
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Mr. Dhansukhbhai Vora, Hon. Secretary, Greater Rajkot Chamber of Commerce & Industries and Proprietor of M/s Seico International (Rajkot), said that not enough measures were taken the by government to maintain exports at current levels which were being affected adversely by appreciating rupee against dollar. He said exporters were at pity as it was very difficult to claim benefits from customs and DGFT, even if they were declared in the policy.
At AHMEDABAD, Mr. A. N. Mishra, Jt. DGFT, Ahmedabad explained the opportunities offered by Foreign Trade policy to small & medium scale enterprises. He also threw some light |
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Mr. Rajesh Bhatia addressing the workshop. |
on some of the incentive schemes run by Gujarat Government. He underlined the importance of ASIDE scheme saying that "ASIDE is formulated to encourage state government to participate in promotion of exports and is administered by DoC." He also explained "Town of Export Excellence (TEE)" scheme and said how industrial clusters like Moradabad were contributing to overall exports from the country. He also briefed the participants on DFRC, DEPB, & DFIA schemes that are popular among exporters. During interaction with the exporters, he clarified that MDA scheme could be availed 5 times in a year but he added that the scheme could be availed for exhibition and trade fairs and not for study tours.
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| At Vadodara: Mr. Sharad Mody, President, Birva Agro Exports, addressing the Workshop. | At Ahmedabad: An exporter raising a point to Mr. A N Mishra, Jt.DGFT, Ahmedabad. |
Dr. Nilesh Suchak, a renowned export-cum-excise consultant highlighted the procedure involved in getting rebate of excise duties. He explained how to get rebate on the duty on inputs under Rule 18 of Central Excise Rules and how to procure inputs without payment of duty under Rule 19. While responding to queries by participants, he also explained the rules prevailing for procurement of inputs without payment of duty for SEZ, EOU, STP, BTP, EHTP units.
At VADODARA, Mr. Sharad Mody, President, M/s Birva Agro Exports stated that the bulk of India’s exports was from SME sector, but ironically, big houses were provided with more benefits than the SMEs.
Mr. Y. K. Shah, President, Exim Club said that SMEs should sense the wave of globalization by changing the traditional way of operations and becoming more responsive to the demand in the market.
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The Bangalore Bio 2008, 8th edition of the event is being organized by the Vision Group on Biotechnology (an apex Advisory Body consisting of members from both public and private sectors) and the Department of IT, BT and S & T, Government of Karnataka at Bangalore from 24th to 26th April, 2008 at BIEC, Bangalore. The core theme of Bangalore Bio 2008 is Global Partnering. |
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Event Highlights: • International Conference •Technical Sessions •International Trade Show Exhibition • Bio – Partnering •B2B Meeting • CEO Conclave •Agribiotech Day • Poster Session •Bio – Excellence Awards • Career Forum • Poster Sessions The event is likely to see participation of over 200 leading Biotech organizations and 18 nations and over 700 delegates at the Conference sessions. Professor Sidney Altman, Nobel Laureate and Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University has agreed to participate in the Bangalore Bio 2008. FIEO is joining in this mega Biotech Show as Commerce Partner and special discount is offered to FIEO members who participate as Exhibitor and delegate. Information on this event is available at www.bangalorebio.in
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