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Capital ceiling to be raised to qualify as micro, small, medium firm
New Delhi: The government has decided to change the definition of what constitute small and medium enterprises, notably by raising the capital caps for qualification, in a bid to revive a sector that is India’s second-largest employer, with a 40 percent share in exports.
A draft bill has already been prepared proposing such revisions, officials said, adding, the cap is proposed to be doubled to Rs.50 lakh for micro enterprises and Rs.10 crore for small-scale firms. For medium enterprises it is proposed at Rs.30 crore from Rs.10 crore, officials said.
“We have not produced global level players in providing services except in information technology and information technology enabled services,” says the draft Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Bill, 2015, that also has a thrust on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
“India can become a global exporter of services. But with the above exceptions, it has not done so,” it added in its observation on the sector, whose story replicates that of manufacturing in India overall.
According to a senior official in the ministry, the aim of the proposed amendments not only to help revival the enterprises in this category, but also facilitate the exit of some distressed enterprises, aso that investments can be unlocked for more productive use.
“Micro, small and medium enterprises face a lot of insolvency and bankruptcy issues. They must be given legal aid for revival, the ministry official said. “We also need to limit their liabilities and improve the process involved in winding up with affordable mechanism,” he told IANS.
Towards this end, while presenting the Prime Minister Modi government’s first full budget for the next fiscal in February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said that a new, comprehensive bankruptcy code on the lines prevailing in the US will make it easier for the exit from unviable ventures.
“We will bring a comprehensive Bankruptcy Code in fiscal 2015-16, that will meet global standards and provide necessary judicial capacity,” Jaitley had said — a move that will replace the laws dealing with sick companies, and the one on industrial and financial reconstruction.
The senior official in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises said funding was also a major issue for the sector, since banks get wary after loans become distressed, while the high debt-to-equity ratio prevents them from taking further exposures.
Officials said the proposal for a Rs.5-000 crore India Opportunities Venture Fund under the Small Industries Development Bank will go a long way in pumping equity, even as the turnover limit for compulsory tax audit and presumptive taxation was being enhanced from Rs.60 lakh to Rs.1 crore.
Another area being looked at is listing on bourses. The platform for such companies allows does not mandate a compulsory initial public offer. But reflecting their problem with equity funding, there are only a little over 90 such firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The micro, small and medium enterprises contribute 8 percent to the country’s GDP, 40 percent of its total exports and around 45 percent of the manufacturing output, as per official data. There are 3.62 crore such firms of which 15.64 are registered. They employ 8.1 crore people.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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