Tag: Nirmala Sitharaman

Budget 2019: Finance Minister reveals plan for TV programme dedicated to startups

MUMBAI: While presenting the first Union budget under Prime Minster Narendra Modi's second term, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a plan to come up with television programme dedicated to startups.

"We propose to start a television programme within the DD bouquet of channels exclusively for start-ups. This shall serve as a platform for promoting start-ups, discussing issues affecting their growth, matchmaking with venture capitalists and for funding and tax planning. This channel shall be designed and executed by start-ups themselves. Later in this speech, I shall deal with taxation matters of the start-ups." Sitharaman said.

It was highlighted in the latest Economic Survey of India that nearly 85 per cent of companies in India were small-scale firms that employed fewer people. With the emerging importance of media and entertainment industry, nine pages have been devoted the sector in Economic Survey this year from zero space in previous editions.

July 5, 2019

Four FDI media proposals await govt. nod

NEW DELHI: A total of 99 proposals including four relating to the information and broadcasting sector for foreign direct investment are pending before various ministries, the Parliament has been informed.

This follows the decision to entrust the work of granting government approval for FDI investment in eleven notified sectors/activities requiring government approval to the concerned ministries/departments.

Commerce and industries minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the decisions would be taken under the extant FDI Policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA),

The government, through the erstwhile Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), had already been considering and taking decisions on FDI proposals in the sectors on approval route.

Consequently, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for processing FDI proposals was issued on 29 June, 2017.

According to the SOP, once the proposal is complete in all respects, which should not be later than six weeks/eight weeks (in cases where comments of the home ministry have been sought from security clearance point of view) from the receipt of the proposal, the competent authority will, within the next two weeks, process the proposal for decision and convey the same to the applicant.

In respect of proposals where the competent authority proposes to reject the proposals or in cases where conditions for approval are stipulated in addition to the conditions laid down in the FDI policy or sectoral laws/regulations, concurrence of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion will compulsorily be sought within 8-10 weeks weeks (in cases where comments of the home ministry have been sought from security clearance point of view) from the receipt of the proposal.

The 99 FDI proposals pending in various ministries/departments are:

Name of Ministry/Department	No. of Proposals
Department of Economic Affairs	13
Department of Pharmaceuticals	14
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion	48
Department of Telecommunications	8
Department of Defence Production	4
Ministry of Home Affairs	5
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting	4
Department of Space	2
Department of Financial Services	1
Total	99

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August 10, 2017

Times Network unveils second leg of Remonetise India campaign

MUMBAI: Prime minister Narendra Modi would surely approve Ditto with the finance minister Arun Jaitley.

The Times Network is getting into the second phase of its drive which seeks to give an impetus to the initiative by the two most powerful leaders in India to nudge Indians towards cashless transactions, digital money and paying taxes.

Called – Remonetise India – Invest in the Nation (Help your Help), it follows the first leg Remonetise India – A Citizen’s Pledge. The second part of the campaign was flagged off with a TVC yesterday that will be promoted across the Times Network channels and additionally in 300+ multiplexes. It is being supported by a digital contest where viewers will be gratified with goodies to promote participation.

The TVC will run almost 20-25 times each day on the Times Network’s channel bouquet. Ads will also appear in parent company Bennet Coleman & Co’s print publications and on sister firm ENIL’s Radio Mirchi stations nationally. These will continue across the Times media group until 31 March 2017, following which the pay taxes phase will commence.

Says Times Network MD and CEO MK Anand: “At a time when the nation is attempting to leapfrog economically, we believe that regulation, infrastructure and technology are not enough to jumpstart socio-economic change. Behavioural and cultural transformation are as important, if not more. This is where a uniquely positioned media group like Times Network can help. Through the ‘Remonetise India’ campaign, we aim to focus on making changes in everyday behaviour of urban Indians so that the benefits of this disruptive reform (demonetisation) flow in the right manner. One of the pledges under Remonetise India is to help others around us to go digital and benefit from the new economy. The second phase of the campaign ‘Help your Help’ is a call to capable urban citizens to help and aid others in achieving financial inclusion.”

The first phase included activities like Telethon, Go-Cashless Rally and Sahayata Camps. The telethon witnessed the participation of key influencers, policy makers and opinion leaders like Ministry of Commerce and Industry Minister for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman, Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy who answered questions on the way forward for the remonetisation movement.

Then B-town celebrities like Sonam and Anil Kapoor, R Madhavan, Shilpa Shetty, Sonu Sood and Manoj Bajpayee supported this initiative and came together to be the agents of change to help bring India’s economy back on track.

Additionally, the network organized Sahayta Camps which were supported by actress Taapsee Pannu who encouraged people to get Pan Cards, Aadhaar Cards and open bank accounts (Jan Dhan Yojana Accounts) for the development of Digital India.

Finally, the Go-Cashless rally took place to drive awareness about digital transactions and save cash for those who can’t do without cash.

The Times Network will continue with these activities across India to take the movement forward in phase II and phase III as well.

With a viewership base of around 4.5 crore English speaking Indians, it is likely to have an impact on those who are most likely to follow the new vision that Modi has set out for the nation.

Publicis South Asia MD and CCO Bobby Pawar points out that the three-step campaign was conceived during a conversation that the agency and the Times Network team was having about the consequences of demonetization.

“We saw that it was causing pain,” he says. “The media primarily focused on the immediate impact of demonetization. Because most of the transactions were in cash, businesses got affected, raises got affected, employment got affected and people started losing jobs. We kept saying that we have to be forward thinking about the change that is being attempted by the government. We started with seeding it on social and doing things on-ground and then taking it to mass media. One of the biggest challenges was apathy. To make people go beyond themselves was a tough task. Even if we move a few thousand people, it will be a big thing. This is a long term thing and will take a lot of efforts. Post us, other brands will also start talking about it.”

Adds the TVC’s director Karthik Bhatt: “We have created a light hearted film in which we have highlighted that we want to make a small change which will benefit everyone in the long run, rather than the focusing on the big tidal change. We got the brief and I immediately went on a recce to the Sahatya camps to see what the situation really is. I saw people who did not have any PAN card or Aadhar card but were willing to have one. There were volunteers filling their forms. We have used references from what actually happened at the camp. 26 January was my first visit and we shot the film on 5 February. We had the film ready in 10 days times. We did not want to get to preachy; we just wanted to tell you to help them. If they want to be a part of the system, they need to understand the process and once that happens they will get regular.”

Also Read :

http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/news-broadcasting/unsponsored-remonetise-india-simulcast-on-all-times-channels-without-ads-170115

http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/media-and-advertising/ad-campaigns/taapsee-endorses-cashless-economy-campaign-170206

February 16, 2017
I&B Sector brings in over $1.25 billion FDI between October 2014 and May 2016

NEW DELHI: India earned foreign exchange amounting to $9565.33 million from computer software and hardware, electronics and Information & Broadcasting (including print media) sectors between October 2014 and May 2016.

Of this, the information and broadcasting sector (I&B( alone yielded $1253.76 million FDI equity inflows, according to a report on the Make in India presented by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament.

The total FDI inflows for these years was $61,585.42 million, the Minister said in an analysis of 58 industries.

The I&B Sector brought in FDI amounting to $205.22 million between October 2014 and March 2015, $1,009.34 million between April 2015 and March 2016, and $39.2 million for the two months of April and May this year.

The Minister said the `Make in India’ initiative was launched in September 2014 with the aim of promoting India as an important investment destination and a global hub for manufacturing, design, and innovation. Thereafter, during the period October 2014 to May 2016, the FDI equity inflow has increased by 46 per cent, from $42.31 billion to $61.58 billion in comparison to previous 20 months (February, 2013 to September, 2014). FDI inflow has also increased by 37 per cent from $62.39 billion to $85.75 billion.

India has been ranked third in the list of top prospective host economies for 2016-18 in the World Investment Report (WIR) 2016 of UNCTAD.

To further boost the entire investment environment and to bring in foreign investments in the country, the government is taking various measures like opening up FDI in many sectors; carrying out FDI related reforms and liberalization and improving ease of doing business in the country. Steps are being taken for development of support infrastructure to facilitate setting up of industries such as transport infrastructure, utility infrastructure etc. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has advised ministries and state governments to simplify and rationalize the regulatory environment through business process re-engineering and use of information technology.

July 22, 2016
I&B Sector brings in over $1.25 billion FDI between October 2014 and May 2016

NEW DELHI: India earned foreign exchange amounting to $9565.33 million from computer software and hardware, electronics and Information & Broadcasting (including print media) sectors between October 2014 and May 2016.

Of this, the information and broadcasting sector (I&B( alone yielded $1253.76 million FDI equity inflows, according to a report on the Make in India presented by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament.

The total FDI inflows for these years was $61,585.42 million, the Minister said in an analysis of 58 industries.

The I&B Sector brought in FDI amounting to $205.22 million between October 2014 and March 2015, $1,009.34 million between April 2015 and March 2016, and $39.2 million for the two months of April and May this year.

The Minister said the `Make in India’ initiative was launched in September 2014 with the aim of promoting India as an important investment destination and a global hub for manufacturing, design, and innovation. Thereafter, during the period October 2014 to May 2016, the FDI equity inflow has increased by 46 per cent, from $42.31 billion to $61.58 billion in comparison to previous 20 months (February, 2013 to September, 2014). FDI inflow has also increased by 37 per cent from $62.39 billion to $85.75 billion.

India has been ranked third in the list of top prospective host economies for 2016-18 in the World Investment Report (WIR) 2016 of UNCTAD.

To further boost the entire investment environment and to bring in foreign investments in the country, the government is taking various measures like opening up FDI in many sectors; carrying out FDI related reforms and liberalization and improving ease of doing business in the country. Steps are being taken for development of support infrastructure to facilitate setting up of industries such as transport infrastructure, utility infrastructure etc. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has advised ministries and state governments to simplify and rationalize the regulatory environment through business process re-engineering and use of information technology.

July 22, 2016
250 Indian journalists to deliberate issues concerning women and children

NEW DELHI: Around 250 journalists from 30 States/UTs across the country representing 120 media organizations will come together on a single platform here tomorrow at the first ever ‘All India Women Journalists’ Workshop’ to understand, discuss and deliberate on issues concerning women and children.

Organized by Women and Child Development ministry in association with Press Information Bureau of the Information & Broadcasting ministry, the women journalists represent print, electronic and online media across the country including small regional media organizations.

This conference will be a unique gathering of women journalists who specialize in social sector reporting.

WCD minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi will herself make a presentation to showcase the achievements of the ministry during the last two years and also obtain a feedback on a number of issues concerning women and children especially on the recently released Draft National Policy for Women, Draft Anti Trafficking Bill, Draft Regulations under JJ Act.

The ministry is also looking forward to new ideas/ areas concerning women and children which could be taken up in the coming months.

In the post lunch session, the Commerce & Industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman will make a presentation on the achievements and new initiatives of the entire government during the last two years.

The WCD ministry will also be putting up an exhibition of two of its large initiatives: Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao and Children’s Helpline-Childline.

Tags: Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, Children’s Helpline-Childline, Women and Child Development ministry, Information and Broadcasting ministry, I&B, Pess Information Bureau. PIB, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, Childline, Draft National Policy for Women, Draft Anti Trafficking Bill, Draft Regulations under JJ Act

June 6, 2016
250 Indian journalists to deliberate issues concerning women and children

NEW DELHI: Around 250 journalists from 30 States/UTs across the country representing 120 media organizations will come together on a single platform here tomorrow at the first ever ‘All India Women Journalists’ Workshop’ to understand, discuss and deliberate on issues concerning women and children.

Organized by Women and Child Development ministry in association with Press Information Bureau of the Information & Broadcasting ministry, the women journalists represent print, electronic and online media across the country including small regional media organizations.

This conference will be a unique gathering of women journalists who specialize in social sector reporting.

WCD minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi will herself make a presentation to showcase the achievements of the ministry during the last two years and also obtain a feedback on a number of issues concerning women and children especially on the recently released Draft National Policy for Women, Draft Anti Trafficking Bill, Draft Regulations under JJ Act.

The ministry is also looking forward to new ideas/ areas concerning women and children which could be taken up in the coming months.

In the post lunch session, the Commerce & Industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman will make a presentation on the achievements and new initiatives of the entire government during the last two years.

The WCD ministry will also be putting up an exhibition of two of its large initiatives: Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao and Children’s Helpline-Childline.

Tags: Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, Children’s Helpline-Childline, Women and Child Development ministry, Information and Broadcasting ministry, I&B, Pess Information Bureau. PIB, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, Childline, Draft National Policy for Women, Draft Anti Trafficking Bill, Draft Regulations under JJ Act

June 6, 2016
Information and Broadcasting sector among major FDI beneficiaries in FY-2016

NEW DELHI: With a total sum of Rs 454.23 crore coming in as foreign direct investment (FDI) up to May this year during FY-2015-16, the Information and Broadcasting sector, including the print media, has been among the biggest beneficiaries of FDI.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha today, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that proposals for big investments pertained to Pharmaceuticals, Information & Broadcasting, Insurance, Non-banking Finance companies, Private Banks and other financial sectors.

There were 19 proposals of big investments, each in excess of Rs 100 crore under consideration of Government.

“The estimated investment in respect of these proposals is Rs 30,552.45 crore,” she added.

August 5, 2015
India’s IPR Policy to fully protect patents, GIs and copyrights: Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, today said that the final draft of the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy has been arrived at through a transparent process with inputs from all stakeholders and has been circulated for inter-ministerial consultation before being posed to the Union Cabinet for approval.

She also sought to allay apprehensions in the minds of foreign investors about the strength of the Indian IPR regime.

Sitharaman was speaking here while inaugurating a seminar on ‘Protecting Brands Abroad with the Madrid System’ organized by FICCI in association with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and DIPP.

The draft policy, she said, focuses on stronger enforcement of IPR by increasing the manpower strength in IP offices and reducing the pendency of IPR filings. Most of the offices have done away with manual interface as all applications, queries and decisions are made online.

Speaking on the Madrid Protocol on registering and managing Trade Marks worldwide, the Minister said that the system allows an applicant to file one application, in one language and pay one set of fees to protect the Trademark in all WIPO member countries.

For SMEs and start-ups, the Madrid Protocol is a cost-effective and time-saving way of having rights protected worldwide, she said, adding that the system would go a long way in reducing processes and provide ease of doing business.

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion secretary Amitabh Kant said that the government’s thrust is on creating a world-class IPR regime along with bringing down the pendency of IPR filings to global levels, he said and added that there is an imperative need to build Indian brands that can effectively penetrate the global markets.

The remarks were made during a seminar on Protecting Brands Abroad with the Madrid System whereby experts from World Intellectual Property Organization, Indian IP Office and industry discussed the advantages and incentives to business from international trademark registration.

July 20, 2015
Slew of e-Governance tools for aqua and other farmers launched by Govt

NEW DELHI: With the government keen to take advantage of the renewed interest in digital technology with the marking of a ‘Digital Week’, several e-Governance initiatives were launched on 9 July to benefit farmers and fishermen.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the programmes had been developed by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

Two of these programmes – Shrimp Price Information over SMS by a missed call, and mKRISHI – Mobile App for aquaculture operations – have been developed for mobile phones, providing digitally enabled services on demand to the aqua farmers in the country.

Two additional e-Governance initiatives were launched aimed at providing single window solution to exporters and other stakeholders through two new websites – Online MPEDA Registration portal for Exporters, and MPEDA Portal – www.mpeda.gov.in.

The Minister also held an online conference with farmers from Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh relating to SMS service and the mobile app. She talked to farmers from Valsaad, Gujarat regarding jhinga farms. Farmers expressed happiness at the launch of these e-Governance initiatives and expressed the view that these initiatives will help them with readily available information.

MPEDA is providing price related market information of Vannamei shrimp and BT shrimp to farmers over SMS on a missed call to a predetermined number. On receipt of the missed call, information on price of Vannamei shrimp and BT shrimp for different grades in major markets like Japan, USA and EU are provided by SMS.

Farmers can dial +918590100800 for getting price information on Vannamei shrimp and call at +918590200800 for getting price information on BT shrimp. The prices (indicative C&F price in Indian Rupee) are obtained from INFOFISH (an Inter governmental organization of FAO) published data.

The price information to farmers will provide them the current market trends enabling them to make an informed decision on harvest of their produce. The service is provided free of cost to farmers. The information can be obtained by farmers all over India. MPEDA hopes that this information power about shrimp prices will empower the farmers to get better price realization.

The mKrishi is a pilot project presently operated in Gujarat and will be extended all over India in 3 months. Aquaculture of shrimp is a complex set of activities wherein huge amount of data is to be captured, analyzed and decisions are to be taken on a dynamic basis. Currently farmers are keeping the records in manual form on a sheet of paper which may not provide them with on growth and trend of the aquaculture operations.

This app will provide an easy tool for book keeping, advisory services and weather information. It is an Android mobile application which has been developed by MPEDA and TCS Innovation Lab, Mumbai (as part of its CSR initiative).

Farmers will require an android mobile handset (post 2013 models) with a data/GPRS connection (2G, 3G or WiFi). The farmer has to enter the basic information regarding his farming activities, after which he gets expert guidance for all operations making his operations both economical and profitable. The reports can be seen in the graphical format. An option to view the trends or reports in the computer is also provided to give seamless data entry and visualization.

The mobile app is expected to revolutionalize the way the farm activities are carried out. The app being used in a large scale can provide the trend of aquaculture activities across the country. It will also help in resolving the farmer’s issues quickly on a more personalized approach.

Registration of an exporter with MPEDA is a mandatory requirement under MPEDA Act, 1972. Presently the registration process is being done manually. The exporters are required to submit a physical application in the prescribed format along with certain mandatory documents.

In the new system developed by NIC, exporters are expected to fill in their application form online with their log in ID also pay the fee online for which a payment gateway has been used. The mandatory documents are to be scanned and uploaded online by the applicant which will be verified by the registering authority. After due process the Certificate of registration will be generated.

The stakeholders, mainly the exporters, will be benefitted by reduction of processes, time delay, transparency, status updation. The objective of the new system is to facilitate ease of doing business and thereby provide the enabling environment for exporters to export more seafood from India.

In order to provide extensive information in public domain on various aspects of marine products sector, MPEDA has revamped its website into a portal and renamed the existing URL www.mpeda.com as www.mpeda.gov.in

The website has both static and dynamic pages on MPEDA, Exports, Production of Capture Fisheries, Culture Fisheries, Ornamental Fish, Services for Exporter, Farmer, Fishermen etc, Trade and Quality Control.

Marine products of India are going to get a fillip in the international markets with the exhaustive information about it in the new website. It will provide links to all important sites on fish & fishery products and export & marketing.

July 9, 2015