Free website for small businesses, Google's initiative will be game changer for SMEs

 It's a clear indication of importance of India for Google, and how it is taking the market seriously. The search giant is now aiming to take more Indian SMEs online with an offer for a free website, domain and hosting services. 'India Get Your Business Online', as the program is named, is designed with local partners, and provides Indian businesses tools and resources to establish a website, find new customers, and grow their businesses.

15 minutes, is what Google has promised, will take for the website from sitting down to being found online. "The initiative aims to break down the barriers that stop small businesses from getting online - by offering a quick, easy and free tool to set up and host a website. Our goal is to help 500,000 small medium businesses in India to get online in next three years through this program, with our partner HostGator," Ranjan Anandan, MD & Vice President, Sales & Operations, Google India stated on the company blog.

Indian SMEs can logon to www.indiagetonline.in, to get registered in the initiative and get their free domain. They would need to furnish an ID document, either a Permanant Account Number (PAN), or Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) or Corporate Identify Number (CIN).

The initiative is only available for Indian companies and so the PAN code is necessary to be submitted to establish Indian status of the company. They will be allowed to use the tool to get a free, easy-to-build website and web hosting for one year powered by HostGator. They will get a customized .in domain name and free tools, training and resources to succeed online.

"While India is home to an estimated 8 million small medium businesses, only about 5% have a website. This program is designed to bridge the information gap that exists online due to the lack of presence of local Indian businesses on the Internet.

Businesses often believe that getting online is too complex, costly and time-consuming; this perception prevents many SMBs from taking the first step towards building an online presence. Google India and HostGator plan to change that through this initiative," Mr Anandan stated.

Other features include photos/logos, integration with social media platforms, a free Google Apps account - with personalized email ids. Those aiming to tap online advertising, will get free tips and tools Google and free coupon of worth Rs.2500 advertising trial from Google AdWords.

HostGator will also offer free support in creating, hosting and managing the website for a period of one year its toll free call centers 1800-266-3000. After the first year, SMEs can choose to pay a monthly pay-as-you-go to maintain their website using hostgator. They'll have to pay a nominal charge if they wish to renew their domain name after a year. They can cancel their website at any time.

Courtsey - Economictimes.com

Green signal for public procurement policy, A boon for Micro & Small units

The Union Cabinet today approved the public procurement policy to boost micro, small and medium enterprises (MSEs).

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said that all central ministries, departments and public sector undertakings to use the products prepared by these industries would be notified.

The MSEs, including the khadi, village and coir industries, constitute an overwhelming majority of this sector, contributing significantly to the gross domestic product, manufacturing output and exports.

In the overall production/value chains however, MSEs are highly susceptible to volatile market conditions. To address this inherent problems, many countries have put in place public procurement policies to support MSEs and to ensure a fair share of market to such entities.

Under the existing dispensation in India, the Government guidelines provide for support in marketing of MSE products through a variety of measures such as price preference, reservation of products for exclusive purchase from MSEs, issue of tender sets free of cost, exemption from payment of earnest money.

In practice, however, most of these facilities are not being provided to the MSEs by the Government Departments/CPSUs, etc.