Indian entrepreneurs awarded by Prince Charles' NGO

PTI : ET : 13 Sep 2013

LONDON: Two young Indian entrepreneurs have been awarded by Youth Business International (YBI), a charity led by PrinceCharles.

Thirtytwo-year-old Sharad Tandale, a member of an economically marginalisedfarmer community of Bihar, was recognised as the 'entrepreneur of the year' at yesterday's 2013 Young EntrepreneurAwards ceremony here.

Tandale is the founder of the engineering start-up, Innovation Engineers and Contractors, which now employs 175 people. 

The other winner, Godavari Satpute, bagged the title of 'Woman Entrepreneur of the Year'. 

Godavari, 33, runs a business manufacturing paper lanterns in Nari Village in Solapur district of Maharashtra. Within a period of four years, her company has managed a turnover of USD 50,000 and employs 75 other women. 

Prince Charles, on Wednesday, praised young Indian entrepreneurs for their work in poverty eradication and jobs creation as he hosted them at a special reception at his official residence here.

"I am very proud of the work you are doing in India," Prince Charles said during his interaction with the entrepreneurs supported by YBI.

Youth Business International (YBI) is a not-for-profit organisation, which via a global networked community provides young people with the opportunity to start their own business - through a combination of access to capital, business development services and experienced mentoring.

Founded in 2000, the charity was originally a programme within The International Business Leader Forum. YBI has since become one of the Prince's Charities, a group of NGOs of which The Prince of Wales is President.

Can the startup industry get third time lucky?

Peerzada Abrar, ET Bureau | 13 Sep, 2013, 05.51AM IST

Two earlier bursts of entrepreneurial activity in India placed the country on the global startup map. While they peaked and died out, Peerzada Abrar writes that now it will be a case of third time lucky

There has never been a better time to be a startup entrepreneur in India: capital is abundant for fledgling ventures, scores of mentors are eager to provide guidance, and inexpensive technology makes it possible to start out on a shoestring budget.

While big Indian businesses complain about the rupee and the macroeconomic situation, intrepid entrepreneurs are launching new companies that deliver products and services on mobile internet devices, improve access to financial services, energy, education or healthcare. India is in the middle of a startup boom.

Unlike in previous waves, professionals leaving behind well-paying jobs are responding to demand from domestic consumers and global interest in Indian innovation. Consultancy EY reported a 17% increase in the number of venture capitalinvestments in India, the third successive year of increasing activity.

"This third wave is the strongest," said Rishikesha Krishnan, professor at IIMBangalore. While foreign money has helped, the previous two phases have helped generate a pool of local talent and capital. We now have a deeper, sustainable ecosystem. "I expect we will now have an IPO worth $1 billion every year in India," said Sharad Sharma, cofounder of iSpirt, an industry thinktank.

FIRST PHASE: Dotcom Boom (1997-2001)



Trigger Indian 

IT was in the spotlight as demand for solutions to fix the Year 2000 bug catapulted software services firms onto the world stage. In the US, internet companies such as Amazon, eBay and Google broke new ground with products and services delivered on the internet. "It was a gold rush," says internet entrepreneur Krishnan Ganesh.

Key Factors 

While portals, such as Sify, Rediff and Indya.com gave consumers access to free email and content, deals in travel, matrimony and jobs came from MakemyTrip, Naukri and Bharat Matrimony.

Investors rushed to back online ventures—about 60 risk capital firms were set including eVentures, Chrysalis Capital and Westbridge Capital. While top executives from Wipro quit to set up IT services firm Mindtree, tech-products built by Tally,Subex and Aditi Technologies gained pace. Indian entrepreneurs returned from the US to set up outsourcing companies.

Top Deals 

Rajesh Jain's portal IndiaWorld was sold for Rs 500 crore to Sify, the first Indian internet company to list on Nasdaq. Technology entrepreneur Pradeep Kar closed a $50-million deal, selling a portion of his web portal Indya. com to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Fall Out 

The irrational exuberance led to petfood portals and online chat forums snagging investors. Chaitime, an online community for South Asians received $25 million from eVentures India.

By 2001, the internet bubble had burst. Scores of venture capital firms shut shop, including eVentures and Jumpstartup. Chrysalis morphed into a private equity firm, Chrys Capital and Westbridge would go onto partner with Silicon Valley major, Sequoia.

SECOND PHASE: Risk Capital Boom (2005-2008)



Trigger

As multinationals bought key Indian companies, money flowed into the ecosystem. Rising demand from the middle-class for healthcare, education and consumer products expanded the scope of startup activity beyond technology. In 2007, a record inflow of $17 billion of risk capital set the stage for an explosion of early-stage entrepreneurship.



Key Factors 

New businesses catering to India's vast underserved communities, including microlenders like SKS Microfinance raised money from marquee investors like Sequoia and Vinod Khosla. Affordable healthcare emerged with companies like Vaatsalya and Vasan Healthcare.

Indian entrepreneurs sold BPO and data analytics firms to large corporations—for instance, CustomerAsset was bought by ICICI —boosting sentiment across the sector. Business software maker Zoho began competing with Microsoft and Salesforce, data analytics companies like MuSigma and Manthan Systems signed on global customers like Louis Vuitton, Dell and Pfizer.

Drawn by the burgeoning wave, investors flocked to India to set up venture funds such as VenturEast, Nexus, Helion and IDG Ventures. IIT-ians Sachin Bansal and BinnyBansal launched online book retailer Flipkart. Earlier, Harvard Business School graduate Naveen Tewari had set up mobile advertising firm, InMobi. Both startups are now valued at over $ 1 billion.

Top Deals 

i-flex Solutions was bought by multinational technology major, Oracle in a deal valued close to $ 1 billion. In a first for an Indian internet company, job portal Naukri successfully debuted on the bourses with a Rs 174 crore IPO.

Fall Out 

In mid-2008, investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the world slipped into an economic slowdown and India's startup boom came to a grinding halt. Risk capital slowed to a trickle, reducing nearly six times in value.

THIRD PHASE: The Early-Stage Boom (2010-Present Day)

Trigger

VV Minerals chairman Vaikundarajan under scanner for illegal mining to the tune of Rs 96k crore

Sangeetha Kandavel, Sanjay Vijayakumar & Sriram Srinivasan, ET Bureau | 14 Sep, 2013, 06.15AM IST

CHENNAI: When Tuticorin collector Ashish Kumar raised the issue of illegal mining of beach sand last month, the spotlight quickly turned on him, as the state government immediately transferred Kumar while also announcing an investigation into his allegations. 

But there has been only fleeting attention towards the man behind VV Minerals, the company Kumar had accused of illegal mining.

One month on, with the result of the investigations awaited, the focus has finally shifted to S Vaikundarajan, the low-profile chairman and managing director of VV Minerals, India's top exporter of industrial minerals garnet and ilmenite.

 There are two main reasons for this.

One, critics such as former IAS officer V Sundaram accuse Vaikundarajan, 58, of engaging in illegal mining to the tune of Rs 96,000 crore and more in the last decade. That's more than two-thirds of the state's accumulated debt. Two, the mining baron's perceived closeness to power.

Vaikundarajan's loyalists have blamed business rivals for such allegations. Vaikundarajan's spokesman could not be reached for this story.

The political class, save for the Communists, has largely kept mum on this issue. The Left parties (they are part of the alliance headed by the ruling AIADMK) have even criticised the government probe for limiting its purview to Tuticorin, where only a minor part of the illegal mining takes place.

Sundaram says "Vaikundology" (a pun on the baron's name and geology) is a huge problem. He has been sending letters since January 2013, much before the Kumar expose, to everyone from the industries secretary to the chief secretary, CBI director, Central Vigilance Commissioner and even the chairman of Atomic Energy Commission.

Sundaram says he hasn't received even an acknowledgement from any of them. G Victor Rajamanickam, the mineralogist who worked with Sundaram, says, "We have taken into account the legally authorised tonnage they are allowed to mine and the transport permits they have applied for over 10 years. The transport permits exceed the production capacity."

Vaikundarajan, based out of Tisayanvilai town in Tirunelveli district in south Tamil Nadu, is someone who keeps out of the media glare. 

People who know him say he's comfortable in his shirt-veshti (dhoti). So reclusive is he that there are no publicly-available photographs of the man. He is self-made, but there are scant details about how he built his business, or his family. He is no stranger to controversy, though. 

One of the ongoing cases against him, filed by rival businessman D Dhaya Devadas, is based on an allegation that Vaikundarajanopenly admitted at a meeting of the ore panel that he bribed officials to get environmental clearance for beach sand mining in Tuticorin.

What adds to the interest in Vaikundarajan is the fact that he is a shareholder in Mavis Satcom, the company that runs Jaya TV, the AIADMK mouthpiece. In fact, the party, when it was in the opposition in 2007, had fumed at the DMK for harassing him.

Vaikundarajan also had accumulated shares in the profitable Tamilnad Mercantile Bankand was ready to accumulate more, says a key shareholder who wished to remain anonymous.

Auditors of VV Minerals had declared in 2011 August that the company hadn't commenced operations as on March 2010, the latest period for which accounts are available. Its website, however, talks about its "huge annual output" of 150,000 tonnes of garnet abrasives, 225,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 12,000 tonnes of zircon and 5,000 tonnes of rutile, all industrial minerals.

Critics such as Sundaram also allege VV Minerals operates alongside a slew of other companies owned by Vaikundarajan and his family.

S Noor Mohammed, former MLA and CPM State Secretariat member, says, "Sand mining has been happening since 1980. Only Indian Rare Earths was doing the mining.

Since it was a public sector undertaking, the process was smooth, and they were cautious about public, coastal life not being affected."

New Companies Bill, a positive for start-ups

Priyankapani :B :14 Sep 2013

The ease in the rule for mergers, the concept of a small company and the concept of independent directors will provide better growth opportunity. -
 Sunil Goyal, founder of YourNest Angel Fund

The new Companies Bill has brought a lot of cheer to start-ups as it has addressed some issues and challenges they face. Sunil Goyal, founder of YourNest Angel Fund, which invests in early-stage companies and mentors them, spoke to Business Line on the impact of the Bill on the start-up ecosystem.

Excerpts from the interview:

What impact will the new Companies Bill have on start-ups?

The Companies Act, 2013 is to an extent positive for Indian start-ups. The start-ups will be able to easily commence a business as a ‘One Person Company’ and can be known as a private limited company which is a great move as in India most small businesses are started by one person and run as sole proprietorship. That apart, start-ups can now reach out for crowd funding or angel funding with up to 200 members. The easier rules for mergers, the concept of a small company, and the concept of independent directors will provide better growth opportunity.

What clauses in the Bill are specific to the start-ups and entrepreneurs?

A “Small Company” having a paid-up capital of less than Rs 50 lakh or with a maximum turnover of Rs 2 crore has been given some relaxations… thier financial statements need not include cash flow; only two board meetings are mandatory, one each in half of a calendar year; the annual return to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) can be signed by the director of the company, thus a practising company secretary is not mandatory for the initial period; and allowing self-approved mergers between two small companies.

What will be the impact of these on start-ups?

These provisions, only to a minor extent, enable the start-ups to get going, operate and exit businesses with ease. We actually have a long way to go from here.

What is the initial response to the Bill from entrepreneurs?

There are several doubts that need to be clarified as in what are the requirements to become a private limited company or how the small and medium firms (up to Rs 50 crore in turnover) as per accounting standards apply to the start-ups. Also will the Bill ease the process of setting-up a company including consolidation of steps at ROC and the online integration for initial steps such as PAN, TAN, shop and establishment Act among others?

What are some of the aspects, relevant to start-ups that the bill could have addressed?

Our start-ups extensively use ESOPs to attract talent. The entrepreneurs are really open to sharing wealth with co-founders, advisors and employees. The process of ESOPs issuance and accounting should have been addressed at least for a small company.

What is the most positive aspect of the Bill?

The concept of a ‘small company’ itself is encouraging. Although, over a period of time it can be extended to multiple areas for ease of operation of a ‘small company’ and bring in a concept of self-regulation.

How does the Bill allow start-ups to list or raise funds without difficulty?

It has limited impact on the funding aspect. Two key changes such as ease of merger process and the recognition of ‘Right of First Refusal’ with investors may get some consideration while making an investment decision.

SBI’s project finance biz logging ‘10-12% growth’

BL :Kolkata, Sept. 13:2013

The project finance segment of State Bank India, the country’s largest lender, is witnessing a 10-12 per cent growth on a year-on-year basis.

According to P. K. Malhotra, Deputy Managing Director, SBI Project Finance, the bank has witnessed an increased outflow towards project finance.

More number of projects have also been sanctioned so far this year. The project finance unit accounts for nearly 10 per cent of SBI’s total loan book.

“Project sanctions are higher than last year,” Malhotra told newspersons on the sidelines of the ‘Banking Colloquium 2013’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

According to him, while others might stop lending because of the slowdown, SBI has not done so. This has led to growth in sanctions.

Singapore steps up scrutiny of Indian bank branches, say bankers

Reuters | Updated On: September 14, 2013 00:34 (IST)

Mumbai: Singapore regulators have stepped up their scrutiny of local branches of Indian banks on concerns about asset quality, three bank executives told Reuters.

India's slowest economic growth in a decade and a weakened rupee have weighed on the balance sheets of heavily leveraged Indian companies, including those that have raised money from Indian lenders in offshore centres such as Singapore.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is looking more closely at the books in the local operations of some Indian banks to assess the credit quality of loans made from the branches to Indian companies, the bankers said.

"There is an enhanced degree of oversight by the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Indian Banks in the recent days," S S Mundra, chairman and managing director of state-run Bank of Baroda, told Reuters.

"They are closely keeping a tab on the NPA (non-performing asset) levels and looking at the quality of assets financed."

Two other senior executives at Indian banks with operations in Singapore, declining to be identified, reported a similar increase in scrutiny, while some bank executives said they had not seen any change.

An MAS spokesman said it "does not comment on our dealings with individual financial institutions"