Strengthening SMEs to make export competitive

The importance of SMEs in any economy cannot be overlooked as they form a major chunk in the economic activity of nations. India has nearly three million SMEs, which account for almost 50 per cent of industrial output. However, SMEs which form the backbone of industrial development in India are not export competitive and contribute only about 34 percent of exports. It is this feature of the SMEs that make it an ideal target to realize its potential export competitive. Drawing from the experiences of countries that have successfully promoted the export competitiveness of SMEs, this paper has identified ways in which SMEs in India can have an access to external markets through exports, which include simplification of procedures, incentives for higher production, preferential treatments to SMEs in the market development fund, linking up SMEs with Transnational Companies or large domestic exporting firms; and formation of clusters and networks in order to reinforce their external competitiveness.Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), SWOT Analysis, Export, India

Promoting the first generation women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka: a lesson from India

The women entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka were victims of war. They did not become entrepreneurs out of choice; they became entrepreneurs as a result of war, in their pursuit of supporting themselves and their families. Majority of them were in business for the first time as they lost their husbands and/or children to the war and saw business as a means to end and their success in the venture is making a balance between family and work. These women were educated with a minimum level education and were involved in businesses such as livestock farming, services and craft/textile which did not require a high capital outlay and expert skills and knowledge of the business. While the international attention has somewhat shifted elsewhere, the international community are still trying to play a constructive role in building up a postwar Sri Lanka. What is more difficult to know- is what strategies (long and short term) exists for development in Sri Lanka? How will the civilians more particularly women start a new life after the camps and how will they become self-sufficient? In this context the present paper entitled "Promoting the First Generation Women Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka: A lesson from India" is a modest attempt to unearth the problems and prospects of women entrepreneurs in retail trade. By taking a sample of 281 women and 161 men retail-traders from India, the results confirm the fact that, though women retail-traders face a lot of problems in transacting their business, still there exists a better scope for growth. The findings of this research are important for several reasons. The women entrepreneurs of the Sri Lanka, like anywhere in the world are powerful driving force for the economic development of the country. The findings of the study will certainly pave the way for the up liftmen of socio-economic status of first generation women entrepreneurs in war-torn areas of Sri Lanka

Corporate behaviours towards foreign exchange risk management Practices: an investigative study in Indian scenario

Indian economy in the post-liberalisation era has witnessed increasing awareness of the need for introduction of various risk management products to enable hedging against market risk in a cost effective way. This industry-wide, cross-sectional study concentrates on recent foreign exchange risk management practices and derivatives product usage by large nonbanking Indian-based firms. The study is exploratory in nature and aims at an understanding the risk appetite and FERM (Foreign Exchange Risk Management) practices of Indian corporate enterprises. This study focuses on the activity of end-users of financial derivatives and is confined to 501 non-banking corporate enterprises. A combination of simple random and judgement sampling was used for selecting the corporate enterprises and the major statistical tools used were Correlation and Factor analysis. The factor analysis finds that there are three derived factors of non-usage of derivative products namely, Perceptual Issues, Technical & policy factor and Pricing & Cost considerations. Further, the correlation analysis reveals positive relation between the nine variables representing the reasons as nonusage of derivatives by Indian corporates. The study finds wide usage of derivative products for risk management and the prime reason of hedging is reduction in volatility of cash flows. VAR (Value-at-Risk) technique was found to be the preferred method of risk evaluation by maximum number of Indian corporate. Further, in terms of the external techniques for risk hedging, the preference is mostly in favour of forward contracts, followed by swaps and cross-currency options This article throws light on various concerns of Indian firms regarding derivative usage and reasons for non-usage, apart form techniques of risk hedging, risk evaluation methods adopted, risk management policy and types of derivatives used

Environmental accounting and reporting With special reference to India

In recent years, environmental pollution becomes so acute and the stakeholders’ awareness to the issue becomes so serious that environmental accounting has become a strong branch of accounting. Still, attention towards the style and recognition of environmental accounting is not a generalized one. Legal authorities, standard setting bodies and other regulators cannot come to a consensus regarding the conceptual framework of environmental accounting and its disclosure. Thus, such disclosure is not mandatory rather voluntary that has no specific style or format. With the passage of time, more guidelines are coming in customized format that may lead us to reach a common format for recognizing environment related data and disclosure thereof through financial statements. Still, such disclosure is guided by the social responsibility and commitment on the part of the entities that work as strong agents for polluting the environment. In this paper, the theoretical foundation of environmental accounting and reporting is discussed with special reference to India. More emphasis is given on environmental accounting and awareness for that as this is supposed to be the need of today

Strengthening SMEs to make export competitive

The importance of SMEs in any economy cannot be overlooked as they form a major chunk in the economic activity of nations. India has nearly three million SMEs, which account for almost 50 per cent of industrial output. However, SMEs which form the backbone of industrial development in India are not export competitive and contribute only about 34 percent of exports. It is this feature of the SMEs that make it an ideal target to realize its potential export competitive. Drawing from the experiences of countries that have successfully promoted the export competitiveness of SMEs, this paper has identified ways in which SMEs in India can have an access to external markets through exports, which include simplification of procedures, incentives for higher production, preferential treatments to SMEs in the market development fund, linking up SMEs with Transnational Companies or large domestic exporting firms; and formation of clusters and networks in order to reinforce their external competitiveness

Environmental accounting and reporting With special reference to India

In recent years, environmental pollution becomes so acute and the stakeholders’ awareness to the issue becomes so serious that environmental accounting has become a strong branch of accounting. Still, attention towards the style and recognition of environmental accounting is not a generalized one. Legal authorities, standard setting bodies and other regulators cannot come to a consensus regarding the conceptual framework of environmental accounting and its disclosure. Thus, such disclosure is not mandatory rather voluntary that has no specific style or format. With the passage of time, more guidelines are coming in customized format that may lead us to reach a common format for recognizing environment related data and disclosure thereof through financial statements. Still, such disclosure is guided by the social responsibility and commitment on the part of the entities that work as strong agents for polluting the environment. In this paper, the theoretical foundation of environmental accounting and reporting is discussed with special reference to India. More emphasis is given on environmental accounting and awareness for that as this is supposed to be the need of today

Strengthening SMEs to make export competitive

The importance of SMEs in any economy cannot be overlooked as they form a major chunk in the economic activity of nations. India has nearly three million SMEs, which account for almost 50 per cent of industrial output. However, SMEs which form the backbone of industrial development in India are not export competitive and contribute only about 34 percent of exports. It is this feature of the SMEs that make it an ideal target to realize its potential export competitive. Drawing from the experiences of countries that have successfully promoted the export competitiveness of SMEs, this paper has identified ways in which SMEs in India can have an access to external markets through exports, which include simplification of procedures, incentives for higher production, preferential treatments to SMEs in the market development fund, linking up SMEs with Transnational Companies or large domestic exporting firms; and formation of clusters and networks in order to reinforce their external competitiveness

Perspective of Merger and Acquisition in the Indian Banks - A Sectoral Analysis *

MERGER & ACQUISITION (M AND A) aims towards business restructuring thereby increasing competitiveness and shareholders’ value via increased efficiency. The banking industry has experienced an unprecedented level of consolidation on a belief that incomparable gain can accrue through expense reduction, increased market power, reduced earnings volatility and scale and scope of economies. The banking sector is one of the most important instruments of the national development. Economic development of the country is evident through soundness of the banking system. Deregulation in the financial markets, markets liberalization, economic reforms have witnessed astounding changes in the banking industry leading to incredible competitiveness and technological sophistication leading to a new era in banking. Since, then every bank is relentless in their endeavor to become financially strong and operationally efficient and effective. When deregulation dawned the horizon non banking financial institutions, private and foreign banks entered the fray with their hitechs. The outwit competition in the banking industry is bound to vault further down the lane, which in turn would make banking business more challenging and perplexing. A paradigm shift is discernable in the Indian Banking arena. This article concentrates on some M and A that have occurred post liberalization in India to understand the intents of “the Targets” and “the Acquirers”. The purpose of the present paper is to explore various motives of merger in Indian banking industry. The data of Merger and Acquisitions since economic liberalization are collected for a set of various financial parameters. Independent T-test used for testing the statistical significance and this test is applied not only for ratio analysis but also effect of merger on the performance of banks. This performance being tested on the basis of two grounds i.e.. Pre-merger and Post- merger. Finally the study indicates that the banks have been positively affected by the event of merger

Environmental accounting and reporting With special reference to India

In recent years, environmental pollution becomes so acute and the stakeholders’ awareness to the issue becomes so serious that environmental accounting has become a strong branch of accounting. Still, attention towards the style and recognition of environmental accounting is not a generalized one. Legal authorities, standard setting bodies and other regulators cannot come to a consensus regarding the conceptual framework of environmental accounting and its disclosure. Thus, such disclosure is not mandatory rather voluntary that has no specific style or format. With the passage of time, more guidelines are coming in customized format that may lead us to reach a common format for recognizing environment related data and disclosure thereof through financial statements. Still, such disclosure is guided by the social responsibility and commitment on the part of the entities that work as strong agents for polluting the environment. In this paper, the theoretical foundation of environmental accounting and reporting is discussed with special reference to India. More emphasis is given on environmental accounting and awareness for that as this is supposed to be the need of today.Environmental Accounting, Environmental Accounting and Reporting, Green Accounts